


Daughter of Rome

by shini_amaryllis



Series: The Tales of Andy Jackson-Black [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Harry being an adorable little legacy, James Potter - descendant of Letus, Kidnapping, Lily Evans- daughter of Poseidon, Past Torture, Percy being in the dark an awful lot, Pre-Relationship, Reincarnation, Secrets, Short-term goddess, Witch+Demigod, second life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 03:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 71,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3192782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shini_amaryllis/pseuds/shini_amaryllis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Andromeda was no ordinary girl, but what she would have never anticipated was immortality or becoming so involved with the Greek side of things, because she had no love for Greece, that could be certain. But it was a bit more difficult to hate Greece when her own brother and friend were of its bloodline. Why couldn't she have been a normal demigod and not Neptune's daughter?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Request of a Titan

It was raining on the night of July 23 of 1994 when Andromeda Atalanta Jackson was born into the world, quiet and breathing with difficulty. She was small and weak and it was with great reluctance that the doctors at the hospital told her mother, Sally Jackson, that it wasn't likely she would last the night.

Sally, whose son was still a few weeks from being one year of age, tried to hide how distraught she was. The first daughter of Neptune already too weak to survive the cold, hard world, but most importantly, Sally's daughter, Sally's little girl who had been a fighter even in the womb, so unlike Percy.

The woman curled herself around the hospital bassinette in the NICU, watching the baby breathe through the mask on her face, unaware of the next events that would change her life forever.

* * *

Asteria, the Greek titan of dark prophecy, stirred from her slumber deep within Mount Everest, which had been her home since even before Zeus had pursued her. The titan had been attempting to pass the next decade in a slumber after her daughter had renounced her, but she had been forcefully awakened by a humming in her ears, a noise that told her one connected to her series of dark prophecies that she gave over the millennia had been born.

Asteria's prophecies were so very different from Apollo's in that most of them dealt with death or tragedy in some form, but it was true that Apollo's did from time to time, yet of the two, Asteria was far more likely to be found uttering prophecies with such included within them.

It was a great regret for her to be a prophet as such, a gift her mother Phoebe, the titan of oracles, had bestowed upon her, yet it was so often difficult to consider it a gift when many found it to be curse.

Asteria stood and vanished into a column of dust, reappearing in the NICU of a hospital, her eyes fastening on one of the babies in particular, the mother of the child not moving from her position beside the baby, her shoulders stiff and tense.

The titan could smell the sea strong in the child's blood and her eyebrows arched. A daughter of Neptune, the Roman god of the sea! Now there was something unheard of. All of Neptune's previous children had been male, though his Greek counterpart had sired females before…the most recent being a daughter by the name of Lily Evans, and how he had managed to hide her existence from Zeus, she would never know, nor how upon her sixteenth birthday she had not managed to be connected to that Great Prophecy of Apollo's, but Asteria sensed the reason was that her fate was tied to another prophecy.

It must've been a great insult to Neptune for his child to be both a female and born dying, the god of the sea had always found strength to rely more in the male sex than the female, and it would take some time for that view to change.

Asteria's eyes narrowed. She could sense the girl's Thread of Life would snap soon and that couldn't happen, not when she was tied to one of Asteria's prophecies.

The titan disappeared as an orderly passed by, her feet touching down against the cobbled stone of the roads along Olympus, taking a seat around the great amphitheater, knowing full well he would seek her out.

"Lord Zeus," she said a moment later, a small smirk curling her lips. The god of the sky had long had a desire to possess her, and the last time he had made an attempt, she had turned herself into a quail in order to flee. Things never ended well for Zeus' conquests and Asteria was loyal to her husband (though she would admit several years back she had fallen off that wagon briefly to sire a daughter with when she and her husband Perses, titan of destruction, had had a falling out), even if she wasn't a confidante to Hera. "How lovely it is to see you, my lord."

The king of the gods gave her a gleaming smile that she recognized well from the first time he had caught sight of her. "No lovelier than you, I assure you, Lady Asteria," he said, but his flowering praise had no effect on her. "What brings the titan of dark prophecy from her mountain?"

Asteria's lips thinned into a line. "Would the king of the gods be willing to do a favor for an old friend?"

Friend was putting it mildly, but he eyed her in speculation.

Asteria was privy to much knowledge that was largely considered unknown, and that was how she knew about the first Jackson child, the son of Poseidon Perseus. Her silence was well paid for, but for Andromeda the matter was different. Asteria needed the girl alive to fulfill her prophecy and she couldn't do that without revealing the girl's identity.

"A daughter of Neptune has been born," she said and she was unprepared for the incandescent rage that overtook him and in an instant she found herself gazing upon Jupiter, garbed in a violet toga, blonde hair a contrast to his previous black with stormy blue eyes.

"NEPTUNE!" he roared with such an anger that his godly brother appeared in moments and Asteria sat back, allowing herself a moment to watch chaos erupt between them. Neptune's hair and beard was windswept and the color of coal, making the green of his eyes much more obvious even with the olive complexion that it seemed his daughter shared.

Those green eyes were cold as they fixed on Asteria briefly before he engaged in bout of his own fury to combat his younger brother's. The words of rage faded out into the crackling of lightning and the slap of waves colliding with the shoreline.

Asteria allowed the pair of brothers to release their anger upon one another before speaking up.

"The girl is dying," she said, causing both gods to turn and look on her and though there was surprise on Jupiter's face, the same could not be said for Neptune, as his face carried a grim certainty. "And that is the only reason I'm here."

Now they were both confused.

"Andromeda Atalanta Jackson is a part of one of my prophecies," she said, speaking more to Jupiter, but still noticing how Neptune tensed at the mention of her dark prophecies, "I need her to live."

"You want me to spare her?" Jupiter thundered. "Spare a mistake on Neptune's part?"

"My lord, you can hardly spin that when your son was born on the first of this month," Asteria said coolly and the Roman god stiffened as Neptune scowled. "The girl is also, coincidentally, the reincarnation of Andromeda, if that helps."

Both gods froze now. It wasn't uncommon for a child to bear a soul of one who had already lived, that was the case with many souls, but Andromeda was a name that had once been tied to Jupiter's Greek aspect's son, Perseus. It was a low move but Asteria needed Jupiter –or Zeus'– help.

"That is very underhanded, Lady Asteria," he said and the titan arched an eyebrow. "My time runs short," she said blandly, "I don't have the opportunity to be anything but underhanded. I am the girl's patron by default as she is part of one of my prophecies, so I will make you a deal, Lord Jupiter."

Jupiter considered her thoughtfully and Neptune's eyes narrowed.

"Charge her heart with your lightning and you will gain a champion."

Now that was something that was of interest to Jupiter, as his son Jason had been named the champion to Juno as a way to placate the goddess…

"She is _my_ blood," Neptune snapped. "You have no right—!"

"You were willing to let your daughter pass on moments ago," Asteria pointed out coldly, "I don't really think you have a say in this matter."

Jupiter considered it, and then he almost said no, but when he looked up he saw the Fates standing a good distance behind the arguing pair. They all gave a solemn nod, holding a line of thread that he knew instantly belonged to the girl and it had not been cut short.

It was that that changed his mind the most, and he broke off a sliver of a lightning bolt, nowhere near as powerful as the ones that his son would command one day, and he shot it down to the hospital little Andromeda slept in, unaware that her fate had just been decided.

* * *

When Sally awoke the next morning she was overjoyed to discover that the doctors were baffled by how well her daughter was doing and how she was meant to make a full recovery. She didn't even know how the tufty hair on her daughter's head had turned a shocking white, but she had a feeling that it was by the forces of the gods.

"Thank you," she whispered under her breath to the empty room as she finally cradled her daughter in her arms. She was light and small, typical of a premature baby. Her eyelids fluttered slightly from the movement of her mother rocking her, but she did not awaken.

Sally didn't know how long she stood there, simply reveling in the feel of her vitality and her warmth when she was interrupted by a surprised voice.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

Sally looked up in surprise to see a girl in her late teens with red hair and eyes the exact shade of green of her children.

The girl gave her a smile that was for the most part, apologetic. "Are you Sally? Sally Jackson?"

Confusion colored her blue irises as she gazed at the young woman. "How do you know my name?" she asked, trying to come off polite, but knowing the words had turned wary in her mouth.

"Oh, Dad told me," the girl said, giving her a blinding grin as she waved a hand carelessly, allowing Sally just a moment to catch sight of what appeared to be a stick holstered to her arm and the new wedding ring on her finger. "You're his ex-girlfriend, right?"

Sally blinked, disconcerted by just how cheery this girl, who had all but identified herself as a demigod, and not just a demigod, but also a daughter of Poseidon (or was it Neptune? She really couldn't be sure of which it was).

"I'm Lily Potter," she explained politely, shaking Sally's hand gently, "daughter of Poseidon."

"I thought you had his eyes," Sally murmured almost to herself, but Lily caught it all the same, smiling softly in such a way that made her eyes brighten considerably.

"May I hold her?" Lily Potter asked politely, raising up her arms slightly as she finished her question.

Sally's first reaction was to clutch her baby to her chest, but she could sense that this young woman meant no harm to her –mother's intuition, she supposed–, that and Andromeda had finally awakened and was staring avidly at Lily's crimson waves, having never seen such a color before in her time among the living. And so, Sally reluctantly bestowed the infant upon her elder sister. It made her feel better when Lily's face lit up like a Christmas tree as she held the girl, rocking her gently back and forth.

"She's a beauty," she said in a murmur, watching as Andromeda's fingers tugged gingerly on a fiery lock. "What's her name?"

"Andromeda Atalanta Jackson," Sally said proudly, earning her a soft chuckle from her companion.

"It is a good name, for a demigod," Lily said kindly, "a strong name…Hello, Andromeda, I'm your older sister, Lily, and one day, you and your brother and mother will come and see me in London…we children of the sea must stick together, you know," Lily's face had turned to mock-severity as she surveyed the small demigod. "You will grow up to be very strong and wise, Andromeda…and a daughter of the sea must always remember there is nothing to fear in death."

She gave the baby in her arms a secretive smile that Sally couldn't understand.

"A daughter of Neptune is special indeed," she hummed as she handed the little girl over to her mother again, for which Sally was grateful, "and dangerous. No wonder Jupiter wished to name her his champion."

"I –excuse me?" Sally asked weakly, rocking her daughter gently.

"Jupiter has chosen Andromeda as his champion," Lily said to her, the previously bright tone fading into a more serious one, tapping a finger lightly against the baby's chest, making the baby giggle, "gave her a boost with a sliver of a lightning bolt to jolt her heart into working properly."

The flash of fear across her face must have been clear as day to see.

"Don't worry about it," Lily assured her, "its mostly just a way to appease him."

Sally's brow furrowed in confusion. "You'll have to forgive me," she said after a short moment of silence, "but if you're Greek, then how did you know about my daughter being Roman? I thought the two were kept separate?"

"Oh, they are," Lily agreed, her smile wry. "But my husband is a descendant of Letus, Thanatos' Roman side, and his best mate is the same, only with Venus' bloodline…I'm pretty sure it only gave him great hair, though…"

Sally smiled.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come to see Perseus," she added, her face falling into the lines of misery. "My parents had just been killed in a car crash and…"

"I understand," Sally said. She knew what it was like to lose her parents, though she had been very much younger than Lily when it had happened. "Its easier to just call him Percy, though."

Lily laughed. "Your daughter may have a similar problem."

Of that Sally had no doubt, but it was one she would not discover for years to come, for on the night she took Andromeda home to her brother, the girl would vanish without a trace, not to be seen or heard from for several years.

* * *

Being a daughter of Neptune itself was quite a trial for Andy, even more so than being a part of a prophecy issued by the Greek half of Delos, even more so than being the champion to Jupiter. She was raised for the most part by the wolf goddess Lupa, who called her Andromeda Snow, as if it was humorous to her, and her weekends were spent with her mother, a witch named Walburga Black who insisted on calling Andy, Andromeda Black, which made Andy's life confusing enough, because there was already one Andromeda Black, even if her name had been blasted off the family tree).

Andy wasn't even sure what to go with to begin with, she probably would've been fine with just being called Andy, but the Romans called her Probatio Snow, and then Centurion Snow, so she'd gotten used to being known simply as Andromeda Snow.

Her situation at Camp Jupiter wasn't what she would consider to be a good one, particularly since no one in camp even remotely liked the idea of Neptune, let alone his children, and Andy had to learn that the hard way. But Andy had spent the most time with Lupa out of all the recruits, and she had been taught how to be fierce and unrelenting, how to be as cutthroat as one could be towards the enemy. And when the whole camp didn't approve of you, it was easy to frighten them away with the wolf stare Lupa had perfected.

Another one of Andy's problems happened to have a name: Jason Grace. Jason was the son of Jupiter and only a few weeks her senior, thus making them the only children of the eldest gods in the camp. Perhaps in another life they could have bonded over that, but Andy disliked him immensely. Andy was generally the most hated in camp –with every little thing that went wrong ending up being blamed on her liked she was some kind of bad luck charm– and the problem she had with him had nothing to do with Jupiter, because she didn't mind Jupiter, being his champion and all, and she had done him several favors before, no, the thing that really got her was how he was accepted into the camp with open arms, while she was constantly scorned. It made her bitter with resentment and burning with disgust. And she displayed such feelings through violence, unsurprisingly of a Roman.

"Centurion Snow!" a voice called, and Andy gave one last glare at the son of Jupiter before giving her full attention to her superior, one of the senators of Fourth Cohort, Bill Weasley. "A word please?" He was one of the only people Andy could stand; an older boy with hair like fire and kind brown eyes who had several siblings, though only a few attended camp, being legacies.

"Senator Weasley," she said coolly, bowing to him before straightening up once more, "were my results inadequate or shameful to our cohort, sir?" She assumed so; any action she took seemed to bring shame to Fourth Cohort. But, as all knew, inaction was worse than action…still, even by demigod standards, Andy was excessively ADHD. She practically vibrated if she sat still for too long.

Bill's smile held the sort of tenderness she would expect a brother to give her, but she had no brothers. She supposed this was something one felt when they had siblings, as Bill had six –as unbelievable as it was. But, then, Bill considered the Fourth Cohort to be his extended family when he wasn't at home or in school.

"Your results were perfect, Andy," he assured her, "there is no need to look so worried." He assumed it was from the sheer amount of punishments she had been threatened with over the years.

Andy schooled her features, scoffing slightly, denying his thoughts. "I am not worried, Senator, but I would like to get back to my training—" Her legs twitched as if ready to streak of in the opposite direction, anywhere where she could fight and better herself through the intensive training Camp Jupiter provided. Sometimes Bill wondered if she wasn't a daughter of Bellona or Ares, given by how distinctly war-like her personality was.

As she moved, her only medal gleamed in the sunlight; she had been awarded the Naval Crown just weeks previously. Normally the Naval Crown was awarded to those who managed to board an enemy's ship, but since Andy almost drowned the enemy, securing a win for the Fourth Cohort, they thought it was the only medal that qualified; many had wanted her thrown out for causing serious bodily harm (which she hadn't). Senator Weasley had been proud to pin it on her regulation armor, deeming her, officially a Centurion (though technically speaking she'd been one since her first year at camp) in the eyes of other demigods.

"The Electoral Battles are nearly upon us," the legacy of Mercury said, informing her of the battle that occurred every solstice, securing the places of the Senators of each cohort. At seven years, she now had the option to participate in the battles as the strongest Fourth Cohort had to offer, "and as you know, Senator Revain has opted to step down from her post. I'm sure she told you she wanted you to participate as her successor."

Andy's eyes shifted away from his. "She might have mentioned something about that," she muttered almost under her breath. Coleen Revain's shoes would be difficult to fill, she was a daughter of Bellona who was well liked, that alone should have put Andy out of the running, at least, according to their most recent Augur, a girl with a vicious streak a mile wide. Andy was the least likely candidate for Senator and she would be winning no points for popularity.

"You should do it," Bill said, his voice telling her he had complete assurance in his words. She arched a pale eyebrow at him, but said nothing, bowing again and disappearing off to find Carmella and Marlene where she had last seen them at target practice. Carmella Romano was tossing her Imperial Gold knife elaborately up and down in her hand, a bored expression on her face. Carmella was a daughter of Venus, but was distinctly more war-like than her passive siblings.

She blew a strand of golden-brown hair from her violet eyes which had narrowed as she positioned her pilum over her shoulder, putting her weight against the ground as she threw it. Unfortunately, it flew shy of Marlene Thomas' (Carmella and Andy's other best friend and daughter of Mars) pilum, lodging in the grass several yards away.

Marlene curled her fingers in a 'give me' gesture, grinning as Carmella glared, handing over a few denarii while looking particularly sulky. It made Andy smile.

"Your turn, Andy!" Marlene chirped impishly, readying the pilum gripped in her hand. Andy did her best not to notice the dried crimson substance at the end of its sharp tip, a substance that looked suspiciously like blood.

"No thanks," Andy said after a long moment, her narrowed eyes peering out past the boundary line to the raging surf of the Tiber River, as if searching for an enemy. She had always longed to go out into the world, but each request had been firmly denied, much to her irritation, apart from missions and quests and even those were rare and allowing for no deviations.

" _Be very careful, daughter of the sea, even for demigods, your scent is one of the most powerful."_ That warning echoed in her ears as clear as the day it was spoken.

"Andy?"

"Hm?" Green eyes cleared as they found themselves gazing into vibrant purple orbs. The concern that Carmella's oddly colored eyes held for her was touching, but unneeded. "It's nothing, Mella, don't look so worried."

True to her stubborn nature, Carmella didn't back down, and was joined by their equally stubborn best friend.

"So, what's up?" Marlene asked in a falsely innocent manner that fooled no one. She dug the end of her spear into the ground, leaning her weight on it as she peered at her friend. "Bill called you over, right? What'd he say?"

The leaves crunched under Andy's sandaled foot as she pondered how to answer that question. The cool air brushed past her cheek, but she did not take notice to much of it; she was far too used to the weather of California.

"I've been nominated to perform in the Electoral Battles."

Carmella who had gulping down a bottle of water sacrificed a mouthful to the god of spit-take as she gaped at the white-haired girl, and she wasn't the only one. Marlene was now staring at her as if she had never quite seen her clearly.

"Uh…what?"

Andy didn't feel the need to repeat herself, opting to shoot them both glares. "What d'you mean _'what'?"_

Carmella patted her shoulder with a pitying look. "Um…Andy, you know that you aren't a _people person_ , right?"

Marlene smothered her giggles at the venomous glare Andy shot at the child of Venus. But Andy soon discovered that Marlene was not alone in thinking that near the end of the Electoral Battles the next day.

If Andromeda Snow could get a galleon for every point in her pathetically short life where she felt truly angry…well, she'd have _a lot_ of galleons.

Having most of the crowd booing her as she completed the Electoral Battles was one of those moments. A low growl issued from her lips, her fingers curling into a shaking fist, but she focused on the task at hand. Senator Revain had passed the trials without any major mortal injuries, and Andy was determined to surpass her. Her blood burned in her veins, turning to fire as she hefted a short trident slightly shorter than the length of her body in one hand and a blade that shimmered bronze in the sunlight. They were the only gifts her father had given his misfortunate daughter, and Andy was sure he'd done it out of pity. Girls were not the favorites of Neptune. He deemed daughters too weak to bear his line because they generally didn't live long enough to bring pride to his name.

She huffed in annoyance, slamming the hilt of her blade into the helmet of a Second Cohort member, downing him in one blow, before moving onto the last one, a member of First Cohort, a daughter of Ceres by the name of Lauren Gottings. She was well known for her hard hits, but Andy was well known for her evasive maneuvers, so it was an even playing field. At least, that was what she thought until a great wooden spike nearly speared her through the heart.

Andy scowled. She had not come this far and undergone extra rigorous training with Lupa to lose to a First! She slammed her fist into the ground, causing the ground to shake and crack, releasing a powerful spout of water directly under the girl's feet, which had the added effect of shooting her backwards and drenching her so that turning the water to ice was a relatively simple process.

It was only when she heard the words "I forfeit," that she realized that she had won.

She dropped her hands, still in shock as Lauren came up to her holding out a hand. "Good fight," Lauren said with a grin, despite how short the battle was, "you'll make a fine Senator, Snow."

Andy blinked in surprise, staring after her as she went to the arms of her boyfriend from Third Cohort, surprised by the sudden compliment. But what really made her day was her friends yelling and screaming and Fourth Cohort cheering as Bill lifted her up to rest on his shoulders. Andy didn't think that she'd ever smiled so much in her whole life, and she was still smiling not ten minutes later when Coleen took her aside to present her with the pure white toga.

The pale material felt strange against her hands, like it was made of water.

"It's beautiful," Andy murmured, lifting it up and letting it pool on the floor as she examined it closely.

"It is, isn't it?" Coleen mused with a smile that was half-wistful. "It'll look even better when it's colored."

"Colored?" Andy asked in confusion, quirking an eyebrow at the ex-Senator.

"When you've been a senator for a certain number of years," Coleen explained, "you gain a seniority over other senators and are then allowed to color the material to showcase that seniority."

"Oh."

Coleen smiled. "You'll get used to it, trust me. I'll leave you to it, then." And then she disappeared out of the barracks and out of New Rome, making for her new life in Michigan, hoping sincerely to leave her monster-slaying days behind her, but aware of the reality that that was highly unlikely.

For awhile Andy just looked at the fabric, not quite comprehending what it was, until she finally pulled it over her small body. Automatically, the material shrank to fit her frame, making her grin and twirl around for good measure.

The pleasantness she was feeling came to a rather sudden halt, though, when Marlene and Carmella –red and angry- practically pulled her out of the barracks to show her what had upset them so.

"Go back where you came from, artist!" one demigod yelled, tossing a bucket of ice water onto the fallen girl, while the others howled with laughter behind him, unaware of the attention they had gained.

"Back off, asswipe!" Marlene sneered, darting forward with her sword Peleus –which granted victory to its wielder– raised, while Andy followed with her trident kept in the offensive and glared until the bullies scampered off faster than was believed possible.

Andy held out a hand to the fallen girl, helping to pull the girl upright. "Don't worry; we're not all like that. I'm Andromeda Snow and this is Marlene Thomas and Carmella Romano…who're you?"

She raised her stormy-grey eyes to meet each pair of inquisitive eyes, "I'm Callie Evaine, daughter of Athena."

Andy thought that was a bit strange, to refer to her mother by her Greek name where the Greek were hated most fervently, maybe she didn't know. She wondered why she had called her that, but she didn't comment much on it, hoping not to set her off, as she was looking quite emotional, as it was.

Carmella smirked. "Impressive; I guess you'll just have to show First Cohort you can wield a sword as well as any needle."

Callie groaned softly, her shoulders slumping slightly, making her look much smaller and shorter than she was. "I'm terrible at sewing."

"Even better," the three told her with identical grins, Andy's being, by far, the most feral.

Andy threw her arm over Callie's shoulders. "You'll fit right in with Fourth Cohort, _Civetta_." (Owl)

* * *

" _What?!"_

Andy had never been so angry in her whole life as she was right now, sitting across from her mother as she lay on her deathbed, or the woman who she had believed was her mother. How could she have believed such an elaborate lie? How could her mother have done such a thing as she had claimed to?

Her mother coughed hoarsely. "Oh, don't give me that look, Andromeda, you must have known I could never love you...you muggles think so highly of yourselves!"

"Go to Hades!" Andy snarled, kicking her chair back, yanking the door open, before turning back to the dying woman with cold eyes, much colder than a child her age should have, "If you're not dead by the time I return, I'll kill you myself."

The threat was empty, and her mother knew it; Andy didn't have the heart to kill her, but, nonetheless, the woman didn't even last five minutes.

Andy watched from a crack in the door, sighing as the woman quietly passed from the world. She couldn't help but feel a little sad, after all, despite all her flaws, she had raised her, even if it was just a little.

"Mistress Andromeda?" the throaty voice of Kreacher spoke beside her, and she jumped violently.

She gasped for air. "Wha-oh! Kreacher!"

"Is Mistress leaving?" the elf asked patiently, for through the blood adoption Walburga Black had made her have when she was only a few weeks old, she was his mistress now.

Andromeda gave a sad sigh, a faraway look in her eyes. "Yes, Kreacher, I'm sorry, but I need-"

Kreacher nodded in understanding. "Kreacher will keep the manor in order while Mistress is gone," he said stoutly.

She smiled weakly. "Thank you, Kreacher."

The house-elf handed her a box and disappeared, to take care of some other room in Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, no doubt.

The box itself was gorgeously handcrafted with swirling designs like waves rising to crash against the bank, and each wave had been painted with a beautiful combination of greens, blues, and whites. Andromeda slid her fingers over the design in wonder, before forcing herself to twist the clasp and open the chest. Inside laid an assortment of trinkets. The first she saw was a wand, beautifully crafted like the box; it too had intricate wave designs. In awe, Andromeda lifted the wand from its resting place, giving a startled gasp as green and blue sparks erupted from the tip. The scrap of parchment that had rested beneath read: _Willow, 10 ¼ inches, swishy, core of Nereid hair._ A small ring box contained the Black Family ring, but it was both too big for her and she could not bring herself to wear it. A pouch held several very old keys that opened the vaults that were now hers at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. And a second pouch held the necessary books for the average witch or wizard.

Andy shut the chest with a snap and tucked it safely under her arm as she shouted "Camp Jupiter!" throwing powder into the fireplace, which burst into a vibrant green, whisking her away to her true home, and away from the heartbreak that her "mother" had caused.

She wiped the tears from her face that she had been attempting to ignore since she had discovered all that Walburga had done.

When she arrived back at Camp Jupiter, it was like she hadn't even left. Hannibal the elephant was evidently feeling a bit emotional and was rushing around the camp, forcing a number of campers to jolt out of the way in fear of being trampled.

Andy shook her head, placing the box under her bed in Fourth Cohort before making her way out of the barracks in search of her friends when she was stalled by a girl from Fifth Cohort who was older than her but still stiffened her back at the sight of Andy.

"Um, Senator Snow?" she said weakly. "Praetor told me to come and tell you that you'll be joining Senator Clancy on that escort mission instead of Centurion Romano."

Andy's eyebrows furrowed. There were always two praetors, though these days it was more likely to be less than that. The current praetor was a boy named Michael Ferin, son of Timor, god of fear, and he was certainly well known for inspiring it. He sent a shiver down her spine on the best of days.

Andy hated going on escort missions without her friends, mostly because her partners made it a hellish experience.

"Did he say why?" she asked.

"No," the girl responded, "and Senator Clancy is waiting for you at the edge of the Tiber River."

Andy scowled and stomped back inside to grab her sword and trident before racing out to where the older demigod was standing, but the events that followed were the kind that she would never forget, starting with blood spilling over dirt and a harsh hit to the back of the head that had Andy's eyesight going black before she was dragged away.


	2. The Foretelling of Asteria

Omega didn't remember anything, she couldn't even remember her own name, just what they called her. The only thing she remembered was pain.

She remembered how it felt to have her bones snapped and her skin broken and her mind shattered.

Nothing made sense anymore, nothing made sense but darkness, death, and pain. Opening her eyes as a trial enough and being able to make sense of what was beyond was another matter entirely. It was like looking through shattered glass and that made it so much harder to comprehend.

She was deliriously mad and someone was trying to chain her to bed, and unfortunately for them, they had started with her feet first, leaving a tray of sharp instruments beside her, no doubt to inflict further injury on her, but she never gave them the chance.

Omega grabbed up the scalpel and threw herself forward to plunge the scalpel into the side of his neck, before pulling it out to stab it into the latched lock on her left ankle, forcing it open as she hopped off the bed, stumbling and making it to the doorway as her captor made a gurgling sound, clutching at his throat.

She didn't stay, she stumbled and tripped into the narrow hallway beyond it, but it was hard for her stay on her two feet. It felt more like the stone was waves beneath her feet, always shifting and making it harder to remain upright.

Then she slammed her elbow against a door and the next thing she knew she was in the free air, clinging desperately to the cliff edge, terror encompassing her body even as a figure appeared above her. She could barely make him out, nothing about him seemed solid except those terrifying golden eyes.

 _"Join me, daughter of Neptune,_ " a voice murmured in her ear, _"and I shall give you a place in the new world."_

But something inside her caused her to reel back and away from the eyes, her bloodied hands losing their grip on the craggy rock and she fell.

* * *

Omega was in Alaska…what was Alaska? She didn't know, but she did, and it was likely that was only because she was wading haphazardly through the water, eyes blearily taking note of a horse pawing at the sand as she came forward falteringly, mumbling disjointed words.

" _Cursed by…from the place…all the odds,"_ Omega mumbled, smiling dazedly at the horse who nickered something to her that she felt she should have understood, but didn't, so the horse merely knelt slightly to allow her onto his back and then he ran with Omega still mumbling deliriously.

* * *

Andy was as white as a ghost, but at least she was on the mend. The wounds would heal, but the scars would remain, a constant reminder that even the strongest could be broken. Callie sat beside her bedside, as the three of Andy's friends had decided to switch out so at least one of them would be awake when she finally woke up.

They were all angry about the botched quest she had been assigned. It should have been routine, a simple retrieval of demigods mission that only centurions were allowed to take on. But somehow the enemy had found them soon after they'd found the two brothers –both children of Vulcan–, and the male senator she had been with had been slaughtered brutally. Andy herself had to buy time for the brothers to pass the Pomerian Line, and that time had cost her, because she fell victim to a notorious demigod. This one had gone as south as they could go, and his name was Nox Baccry, son of Bacchus.

No one really knew what he'd done to get kicked out of camp, but it must have been very bad. Andy was an example of his prowess in his father's art, madness.

Constant prayers had been sent up to Bacchus by her friends at every mealtime, and the Fates had smiled upon them.

Andy's fragmented sanity had been pieced back together, but the effects of her stay with Bacchus' son were yet to be seen. The descendant of Apollo that had tended to her wounds had left bandages across her back where the skin was deeply marred, scarring enough that anyone who would on the brutal lines would know what had caused them.

They all worried, constantly, but worrying wouldn't change anything.

"Er…Callie?"

Callie looked up to survey the Weasley boy with cold grey eyes. "What?"

Fred Weasley flinched slightly. He was only younger than Callie and her friends by a year and he had barely started his training with his twin brother George in the camp, and given how young they were, their parents had decided to only let them train at the camp for a few weeks out of the summer until they were a little older. "If you want to get some sleep, George and I can take the next shift."

"I'm fine."

Her words were as direct as ever, edged with steel, and the twin had disappeared in seconds, leaving Callie to turn her attention back to her slumbering friend.

Callie didn't belong in Camp Jupiter, she was a Greek, she didn't even know how she even got there, to be honest. She didn't fit in anywhere until Andy and her friends offered her a place by their sides, somewhere she could belong. So she kept her mouth shut about the Greek blood pumping through her veins.

And she waited beside her friend, hoping for her awakening into the world once more, but it would be Marlene who was afforded that privilege.

"You're awake!"

Marlene was overjoyed the next morning when she came into the medical tent to find Andy sitting up in her makeshift bed, speaking quietly with Senator Weasley who had his ear leaned close to catch her raspy whispers.

Bill leaned back. "I'll tell the Praetor everything, Andy, you just get some rest." He squeezed her shoulder and stepped out of the tent, leaving his seat vacated for Marlene to plop herself into.

"Hi," Andy croaked with a slight smile.

"Hi," Marlene said in a low voice. "How are you?"

"Tired," she rasped. "Hungry. Thirsty. I feel half-dead."

She certainly did look it. Her pale hair (which had recently gained a few colored strands of blue during a recent mission to New York) clung to her scalp, giving off the appearance of being thin and wispy, while her usually olive cheeks had gained a pallor that was only just starting to abate.

Marlene assisted her in holding a cup of nectar to her lips and drinking deeply from it, being careful of how much her friend consumed. Even Andy could only drink so much before she became overheated.

Her cheeks became a pale olive, but it was better than the stark white, and her eyes seemed to gain a bit of life, but there was a new quality to them that made Marlene's blood boil, because though the color remained the same, there was no changing how they looked like shattered green glass. That, Marlene presumed, must have come from being mind-broken and repaired.

"Did Vulcan's sons make it to camp?" Andy asked and Marlene gave her a brief look at exasperation; trust Andy to ignore her current condition to find out the condition of the demigods she was supposed to escort.

"Yeah, they're fine," Marlene assured her, her lips thinning into a grim line, "they raised the alarm and a search party was sent out for you two, but all we found was…" She didn't need to finish that sentence. _The body._

Andy's hands bunched the sheets over her legs as she gripped it tightly and her cheeks lost what little color they'd gained and Marlene looked away, not really knowing what to really say or do.

"Get some rest," Marlene said finally, squeezing her knee through the fabric. "You need to get your strength up."

Andy threw her an irritated frown at her words, probably opening her mouth to say something that might learned her tongue a washing out with lye, but then she thought better of it, because, she looked incredibly tired, even though she'd been asleep for most of the past few days.

But Marlene remembered her ramblings quite well, and she was grateful that she had been the only one that heard it:

"… _she shall sit on her icy throne…admiration for death and the unknown…second time…ripped from her Hearth…Lover of Death…"_

It sounded like Andy had heard snippets of a prophecy, but Marlene couldn't make heads or tails of the little segments that she had heard.

 _She shall sit on her icy throne_. That could very easily refer to Andy herself, she knew, because the girl had an uncanny skill for freezing things, or at least frosting them over…

 _Admiration for death and the unknown_ … that one Marlene wasn't so sure about; Andy had never mentioned anything of the sort.

But, _ripped from her Hearth_ , applied quite well to Andy who had only recently revealed upon the eve of her mother's death that she had been kidnapped as a baby and raised apart from her family. Marlene knew that she hoped to be reunited with them once again, despite the fact that she never mentioned it.

 _Lover of Death?_ Now that was worrying. Loving Death never went well for anyone. There was a reason that there weren't all that many children of death gods around.

Andy was already nodding off, so she simply gave her a promise to return in a few hours, and when she did, she had to grab her sword, because there was someone in there with her.

It was a woman, and she had her back to Marlene, reaching out a delicate looking hand to press two fingers to Andy's forehead while she slept on. The girl's eyebrows furrowed together at the touch.

"Step away from her," Marlene said in a dangerously quiet voice, hefting her blade before pausing when the woman removed her hands from Andy's forehead and turned to survey the daughter of Mars. Her hair was dark and it was strewn with stars, the likes of which Marlene hadn't seen before.

She was so inordinately beautiful that she must have been a god.

The woman smiled. "Stay your blade, daughter of Mars, there is no need for violence."

"You could be a threat," Marlene said half-heartedly, but she had no wish to anger a god. "Who are you?"

The woman's eyes were a smoky blue as she turned to speak completely to her. "I am Asteria," she said in a commanding voice, "Titaness of Nocturnal Prophecy and the Stars, daughter of Phoebe and Coeus, sister of Leto, and mother of Hecate."

Marlene backpedaled; those were some serious titles.

Asteria turned back to the slumbering child. "Watch over her for me."

* * *

When Andy stirred at long last it was to a world of darkness. "You slept for a very long time, daughter of Neptune."

Andy found herself in a rather unfamiliar place with choppily carved rocks and curtains around her. She twisted towards the voice, frowning at the woman speaking.

Her head of starry hair swayed as she moved forward and those eyes of hers were piercing. Andy was almost certain she'd seen her somewhere before.

"Do I know you?" she asked, because it was clear that the woman knew her in some shape or form.

"I am the titan Asteria," she said and Andy stared.

She'd been told that she'd had a visitor while she slept, but she didn't imagine that she'd actually meet the titan herself.

"And I am the reason you still live," she said, causing Andy to furrow her brow in confusion.

Was she talking about what had happened with Bacchry or something else?

"Something is about to happen," Asteria said ominously, "I cannot foresee the choice you will make, nor if its outcome will affect your fate."

"I –what?" Andy was so confused.

"You'll understand soon," Asteria promised, and then the cavern faded away and Andy was left feeling like the titan made a habit of confusing others with very little information.

* * *

The war games went downhill almost immediately, much to Andy's eternal annoyance. It wasn't the other members of Rome that were the problem, really, even though the majority of them hated her guts, no, it was the fact that monsters had somehow gotten across the Tiber River. And of course that was her fault because she was the daughter of the sea.

 _Really?_ Gods, they were all _idiots_.

Andy's knife sliced through the hellhound's jugular, making it evaporate into golden dust around her.

"Alright there, Snow?"

Andy felt the familiar warmth of Bill's back against hers. "Fine. You?"

They separated and Andy swung down the trident in her opposite hand, lodging in the lycanthrope's chest cavity and tossing him back a few paces.

"Where the bloody hell is Terminus?!" Andy roared to Bill.

"No idea!" he yelled back, ducking as the injured lycanthrope leapt at him, missing by inches. "But he's down for the count!"

Andy swore loudly, before letting loose a roar of rage, raising her hands up to the sky, not unlike the position of Atlas. Several things happened as a result. The clouds grew dark overhead, thundering ominously, then the ground became thick with frost and the air became cold like winter. Everyone –demigod, faun, monster– found themselves with ice inching slowly but surely up their bodies until they were all completely encased and Andy was looking out at what could be considered an ice version of wizard's chess.

Once she had realized what she had done, Andy gulped, attempting to swallow the terror of what she had done. Was anyone still alive? Her friends! Were they—?

"Marlene!" she yelped, leaping over frozen bodies to reach her side. "Callie! Carmella!" But it was useless; the three girls were uncomprehending. A shiver ran down her spine and she quickly averted her eyes at the flash of light that signified the entrance of a god.

Mercury eyed the child before him with surprise; she couldn't have been more than seven or eight. Mercury then looked around at the frozen world; he would later admit to her how impressed he was by her power, because he had never met a demigod capable of turning a camp into a winter wonderland. Mercury's calculating eyes gazed upon the child, from the shock of white that her hair was with blue streaks through it, to the shattered green color of her eyes. It was quite obvious that she was the daughter of Neptune, if one hadn't seen the trident one her wrist underneath the slash marks that symbolized her years of service …he had heard the stories of the demigod whom Jupiter had revived, his champion, but Mercury had never met the demigod daughter of Neptune before.

The white senator toga she wore was ripped and stained from the battle, giving her a much more war-like expression than Mercury doubted she had intended.

Andy schooled her face into a stoic mask, her lips set in a frown, her fists clenching slightly, as if preparing for a fight, but she didn't say anything to the god as though she was waiting for him to make the first move.

The god of commerce and trade knelt in front of the child to make their height difference not quite so pronounced. "What is your name, demigod?"

She jutted out her chin defiantly, her rebellious attitude shining through. "Andromeda Snow."

Mercury raised an eyebrow at her name and at the heavy English accent that escaped her lips. "You have a very Greek name for a Roman, Andromeda Snow."

She gave him an exasperated look and spoke wryly, "I know. Are you Mercury?"

"Yes."

"Are you here to kill me?" she asked through narrowed eyes, her fingers clenching around her trident, turning her knuckles white.

"No, I'm here to take you to my father, Lord Jupiter," the god corrected her, "he has commanded your presence, daughter of the sea god."

Fear flashed through her eyes for a second before her face became carefully neutral and she held out a hand to the god who took it, shutting her eyes quickly so she wouldn't burn up for the second time that day.

Andy had felt fear more times than she could count, not that she would ever admit to any of that. But none of those other instances –which included the Quest for the Winnowing Oar, which she had undertaken with Carmella and Marlene before she'd met Callie, and stealing the praetor's cloak– could possibly compare to how she felt right now. She stumbled when her feet connected with the ground and almost fell forward, but she regained her balance at the last moment, closing her eyes suddenly when Mercury burned gold.

Andy felt like Mercury when Apollo caught him red-handed after he stole his cows; a term that came to be known as deer in the headlights. The godly energy that swirled around the Olympus was enough to make Andy sick to her stomach and she was sure that she choked on air. Looking upon the godly palace filled her with awe and unease. She had never felt so small in her life than at this moment.

None in New Rome had ever visited Olympus, if the gods needed a visitation they would come down to see the Romans in person. Andy couldn't help but be impressed by how carefully crafted the architecture was. Even from the outside, Andy was stunned.

"Keep up, Daughter of Rome," Mercury commanded lightly, turning back to where the seven-year-old demigod had stopped, her mouth gaping open in shock, and she struggled to follow quickly after him until they reached the doors to the throne room.

"How much in trouble am I in?" she asked after a long moment.

"I couldn't say," Mercury said honestly, "my father only commanded that you come before him."

Andy nodded in understanding, swallowing thickly as she ascended the staircase. She tried hard not to scowl at him as he snapped his fingers, the great majestic doors opening so suddenly she was sure they had been vanished. Her singular footsteps echoed loudly in the hall as she made her way submissively forward.

Lord Jupiter didn't look so impressive (or maybe, oppressive was a better word) when he was human-sized, though he was still remarkably taller than her.

Andy had been expecting someone who looked like an older version of Jason Grace, and she wasn't wrong. He was donned in a toga that was as purple as the Praetor's cloak and his hair and beard was a similar blonde to Jason's.

"You are brazen, dear niece," he said, his voice filling the entire empty hall.

Andy flinched.

"Approach," he commanded of her, and she did, her legs shaking, because she stood in the presence of the god of gods. This was one whom no one wished to anger.

Jupiter leaned forward slightly, drinking in her appearance. The blood of Neptune glowed under her skin and her eyes were a stormy green; a whirlwind of many different greens, too many to count.

"I see you still have my lightning bolt, my champion." Of course, it was only a replica, only as strong as its beholder, but a child of one of the Big Three didn't really need an extra power boost.

She frowned. "I'm sorry…I don't quite understand…I was brought here because of a lightning bolt?"

So she didn't know. That was…a relief.

"Walk with me, niece," he ordered, turning on his heel, forcing the girl to jog to catch up with him. "Asteria protects what she can of you, but her intervention is little."

"Asteria…" Andy said slowly, recalling the woman from her dream who had introduced herself as such.

"The Titan of Nocturnal Prophecy," Jupiter informed her, "and hence you have fallen into her domain."

Andy wanted to open her mouth, but she had no idea of what she could say. Mostly she was just stunned.

"Asteria once convinced me to spare your life in that I would gain a champion in you," Jupiter informed her wryly. "But it seems that I will have to take that forfeit for Apollo's sake."

Gods and titans were making a habit of confusing her these days.

He glanced down at her and she fought the urge to recoil from those dark blue depths. "I am much in need of the ears of one who is a demigod. My son, Apollo has foretold of a spy in the demigod ranks, one capable of doing much damage in little time," Jupiter said grimly. "We have no way of knowing why this spy will betray Rome or to whom, and that is why I need you." His eyes gleamed. "I need a demigod with briefly granted immortality."

Andy couldn't even remember the last demigod that had been granted immortality, and it definitely had to be a good number of centuries ago. Andy had never considered herself god-material, but…briefly? Sounded a bit like what those myths about the hunters that followed the Greek aspect of Diana, Artemis, had once possessed, immortality unless killed in combat…but this might be just a bit different.

"But what does that have to do with me being immortal?" Andy asked, flummoxed.

"Why do you think?"

Andy frowned lightly. "Well, if I was the spy and I saw someone lose their immortality, I'd think that they would be good recruitment material, they'd probably hate you, and then me and the ex-immortal would have a common goal."

"Agreed."

"What if your plan fails?" Andy pressed. "What if there is no spy?"

"Make no mistake, Daughter of Rome," Jupiter said seriously, "there is a spy, and I intend you to be my eyes and ears. Will you deny me that?"

Denying the King of the Gods was not something to do lightly, and she was his champion, she doubted she could go against this one request he asked of her. Andy sighed. "Immortality for only a few years, right?"

"Yes."

"Is it going to hurt?"

"Yes."

"Both times?" Granting and having it taken away, she meant.

"Yes."

She sighed again. "Great, that's just what I wanted to hear."

Jupiter waited patiently for her decision, even though he already knew what it was.

"Alright, have at it," she said, giving him a low bow, "it would be an honor to perform this duty for my lord."

And then he placed his palm on her forehead. "Brace yourself, daughter of Neptune, or your spirit will evaporate into nothing and your skin and bones will turn to ash." It sounded an awful lot like what happened when demigods drank too much nectar and eat too much ambrosia.

Andy tensed her body, preparing for the pain, but knowing that it wouldn't be enough.

On her head, his palm glowed with godly power and Andy was enveloped with a blinding light and warmth, but the warmth and light was quickly replaced by pain. The pain was excruciating, but it was also bearable, like the training at Camp Jupiter. She was sure that she was screaming, but even screaming could not convey the complete agony that she was feeling. She felt like her very molecular structure was being rewritten, as if she was being reborn, stronger and more resilient. Her skin tingled and the lightning bolt inside her vibrated with power, sending sparks across her flesh. Perhaps it was hours or even days later that the pain stopped, but she could not be certain.

She counted her breaths, keeping her eyes closed for as long as she possibly could. She counted to a thousand before she finally opened her intense sea-green eyes. She didn't feel any different, and she certainly didn't look any different.

And then she opened her eyes.


	3. Hecate House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should point out that this story was originally written before the reveal in House of Hades, so I've made Nico bisexual, but I will be incorporating that moment into the third book of the series, I think…I have it all planned out, well, mostly…I do know is that its going to be epic (wink, wink). Also, in case you didn't know, the timelines are a bit skewed with both of PJ and HP timelines altered slightly so that they can fit together in the same universe. And, like in my original, Nico is twelve, he just hasn't hit his growth spurt yet.

"No, you have to make it harder so it will not break upon impact!" Chione, goddess of snow, slammed her heel onto the icy surface of the lake, making the ice crack and shatter leaving Andy with free-flowing water. Andy couldn't help but grimace at the sound before raising her arms for what felt like the thousandth time and focusing her energy. She barely noticed the goddess leaving her on her own, and she couldn't help but be a little miffed.

"You look like hell."

Now, this phrase was practically a perky "Good Morning to you!" in Andy's world these days. Since she was immortal now, she didn't really have to sleep (though she still enjoyed it), so a great deal of her time was now spent in Quebec with possibly the coldest goddess Andy had ever met (not including herself, of course). Chione was a slave-driver and Andy almost wished she could still bruise, because she was sure that she would be all black and blue by now.

It wasn't that she wasn't getting anything out of this training, because she was, it was just that she was a very trying individual and making ice for hours on end was very difficult, even for the newly named goddess of ice.

Winter was the only good thing that came out of it.

No, she wasn't talking about the season; she was talking about the girl. Winter was the only daughter of Chione and thus was heavily watched and protected, something that angered and irritated her to no end. Her personality was distinctly war-like, so Andy liked her right away, and it was she that had spoken.

Her black hair was tied back into a silky plait, whipped about by the wind, drawing attention to the alabaster of her flesh and the brown of her eyes. She smiled. "How's the ice practice going?"

"As well as you'd think," Andy grumbled to herself, curling her fingers inwards very slowly until the ice began to crystallize and harden, becoming solid beneath her feet which now hovered above the ground, courtesy of an accidental burst of magic from Carmella that had caused her shoes to become the equivalent of Mercury's sandals ("Next time, Mella, aim at something that's not _breathing."),_ something Carmella was still trying to replicate, but with no results like before, forever disappointing her. "How are you?"

Winter's lips twitched slightly upwards before falling slightly into a frown, catching Andy's interest right away. Some days Winter looked downright miserable and Andy could sense there was something wrong with her deep in her bones, but she didn't mention it so neither did Winter.

"What's wrong?" she queried, pausing her training to look her new friend full in the face.

"You're leaving soon, aren't you?" Winter inquired.

Andy tried to focus on anything but her new friend. "My training's almost complete, and then I'll be heading back to New Ro—"

"Why not come to New York instead?"

Andy lifted her gaze from the perfectly formed ice to stare at the daughter of snow, her mouth slightly ajar. "New York?" she repeated. "Why?"

Winter rushed on, grateful that she hadn't completely shot her down. "There's this sort of establishment that demigod misfits go to, a place called Hecate House."

"Hecate House?" Andy said blankly. "I've never heard of it…or…wait, isn't that where Angelina Johnson went?"

Winter didn't know any Angelina Johnson. "No idea, but a lot of Hecate's kids live there, that's why it's called Hecate House, you know. Its located in some kind of former theater that's kind of been transformed into some sort of apartment-ish place with lots of room to train and spells cast over it to protect it from monsters, but all newcomers are required to live for two weeks outside of the House to prove their worth, or something."

"And this is a place you want to go?" Andy asked slowly, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Well, they could use a patron goddess," Winter wheedled with a light smile, her brown eyes bright and begging silently. _"Please!_ It'll be a lot of fun!"

Andy frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know, Winter…let me think it over for a bit, alright?"

"Sure!"

Winter stepped back as Andy turned into little more than mist, evaporating into thin air, taking her up, up, away from Quebec and heading for Nepal.

She didn't visit the titan Asteria all that much, but she had found her advice helpful in the past, and she would rather turn to her with her questions than make her way up to Olympus to one of the other gods. She could have easily asked Diana, or Apollo, she supposed, but she liked Asteria best.

Asteria greeted her with a rusty axe to her throat, which wasn't the worst why to grab Andy's attention, if she was being completely honest.

Andy ducked, despite knowing that an axe to the neck wasn't likely to kill her with Jupiter's gift.

"Ah," Asteria mused as Andy twisted on her heel to twist around to face her and Andy could have sworn she sounded a bit disappointed. "Well, this is surprise, I wasn't expecting the lower goddess of ice to visit a reclusive titan such as myself."

Asteria made it a habit to call Andy a 'lower goddess' as if she needed to remind her that among the gods, she was the least powerful and her power could and would be taken away in an instant. Oddly enough, Andy didn't mind. She still grew, she still trained, but things came a bit easier to her now and her blood was golden instead of red.

"I need some advice," Andy freely admitted and the titan smiled, waving her hand and allowing two oaken chairs to appear, bending out of nothing, and both sat with Asteria moving far more smoothly than Andy.

Asteria waved her hand again, this time, though, it was more of an indication of Andy to begin speaking.

"I've got a friend, Winter Snow," Andy admitted, allowing herself a small smile as the last name they both used, though Winter's had been a gift from her mother and Andy's had been a gift from Lupa (though, knowing Lupa's crude sense of humor, it could be construed as insulting), "she wants to go to a place called Hecate House and she wants me to come with her."

Surprise colored Asteria's smoky eyes. "Hecate House?" she repeated. "Well, it's a rather new establishment, my daughter was the one who set it up, actually."

"Your daughter?" Andy's eyes widened. She'd heard rumors about the daughter of Asteria, the only know demi-titan alive, and one that was mortal, like her father had been. There was much debate as to whether the girl, Calliope Evans, was even Roman, given that it was said that she was the daughter of Asteria, and not her Roman aspect, Delos, but Asteria was one whose name was used interchangeably, rather like Hecate, her daughter, whose Roman name was Trivia, yet she went by Hecate in either form.

"Calliope was strong in her magic and she wanted to create a place where others like her, magical or didn't fit into camp, could come and stay, whether it was to learn or to be safe. The powerful enchantments around Hecate House are very powerful and Calliope tied them to her soul…a dangerous venture, but Calliope was always a determined child."

Asteria's eyes turned forlorn as her lips drew into a frown. "Manipulating the Mist was always a bit simple for her…and I think the other gods liked the idea of Hecate House because it kept her in one place, easy to be seen and watched." There was a bitterness there that couldn't have been faked. Andy knew a thing about being the subject of scrutiny, but the daughter of titan must have had it worse.

"It was a bit of a revolutionary idea," Asteria mused, "creating a place where Roman and Greek demigods could coexist without knowledge of one another."

Andy balked in surprise. "They don't know about each other?"

Andy hadn't even known that Greek demigods existed until her ascension to immortality, and frankly it still kind of surprised her that they were still around. Greek…the word left a bad taste in her mouth, like a poison, but maybe that was just the Roman in her.

"How could it be possible for Romans and Greeks to live together without knowing of the others existence?" Andy asked, her eyes fastening on Asteria's. "I would've thought they would have killed each other by now."

"You will find that there are many structures across the world, daughter of Neptune, where the Mist is thick and copious," Asteria remarked wryly, her fingers tapping against the armrest of her chair, "though Hecate House's is more man-made through Calliope using her talents, but it's far from being the only place like that…such as the school that your elder sister attended when she was alive."

Andy felt like a bucket of ice had been dunked over her. "I –what?" she stuttered over her words, reeling back as her eyes went as wide as saucers. "Did you just say that I have a sister?"

Asteria appeared to be quite interested in her reaction, eyes gleaming and a faint smile touching her lips. "You never knew, I presume? That makes sense, after all, Lily Potter was the daughter of Poseidon."

The daughter of Neptune was mouthing wordlessly at her, which only seemed to amuse her more.

"It hardly matters now, I suppose," Asteria conceded, "she has been dead for several years now, as has her husband, but she has a son…he'd be a few years younger than you, a grandson to Poseidon and a descendant to Letus; a child of Greece and Rome."

Andy sagged against the back of her chair, feeling like a boat being battered by a storm at sea. Finding out she'd had a sister was one thing, but finding out she was dead and her son alive was another. "I have a nephew?" she asked weakly when her voice came back to her.

"So it would seem," Asteria said, leaning forward intently. "but there is something else you should know…something that may affect you, but I cannot be certain."

"What d'you mean?" Andy asked befuddled, still caught off guard by the knowledge that she had a nephew.

"There are children like you, Andy," Asteria said solemnly, "ones born with too many gifts. Some have their lives bound to objects, some have their lives cut short by the Fates, and some, some are cursed to love Death himself." There was a knowing light to her eyes now that Andy couldn't even begin to comprehend. "Even immortality cannot save you from that fate."

Andy opened to mouth to speak, but she had no idea what to say.

* * *

Harry James Potter, that was his name. Andy watched him from afar, drinking in his appearance as if he would disappear in an instant. His hair was dark and unruly, but the eyes, the eyes were completely identical to hers.

He seemed quieter, softer, and to someone like Andy, that was strange, because Andy had been outgoing and hardhearted for as long as she could remember.

And then he looked up, his eyes meeting hers. Andy had to blink in surprise when a bright smile overtook his features and he waved to her. Reflexively, a smile twitched her lips and she raised a hand to wave back.

In the time it had taken him to blink, she had vanished, leaving the boy looking a bit bemused.

* * *

Andy's knees buckled in Nevada, where she had suddenly materialized. It was an ability known as hydroportation that only children of sea gods and goddesses were capable of, just as the death gods' children were capable of shadow travel and the sky gods children were capable of aeroportation. She had only known of a son of Volturnus (god of the waters) and the great-great-granddaughter of Caelus (the personification of the sky) that could use the ability, but perhaps it was simply because they were the only ones that tried, and they weren't a fan, and it, like the other respective manners in which to move from one place to the next either by air or shadow, was exhausting, even if it was a handy skill to have.

And no matter if she was a goddess –as temporary as that instatement was– it still sapped her of her energy and Andy fell to her knees, breathing hard and struggling to regain her breathing when a water bottle was dangled in front of her eyes.

"Go on, take it."

She did, looking up and into a pair of wide, curious brown eyes.

"You!" she said suddenly, completely stunned by the appearance of the boy standing before her. "I know you!"

"Well, you did fall on me," the boy said rather brightly which made her feel a bit more than a little sheepish.

"How old are you?" Andy asked curiously, looking him up and down while swallowing some water. He was wearing the exact same clothes and the same pack of cards in his pocket, had the same rumpled dark hair, sharp angular features, and smiling lips. There was something about him…something almost familiar…

"Twelve," the boy said with a grin, "and Bianca's fourteen."

"Bianca?" Andy said blankly, the name unfamiliar to her.

"My sister," he informed her with a grin. "I'm Nico, by the way, Nico di Angelo."

Of angels…it was a pretty name, Andy couldn't deny that, and it did suit him.

"Italian?" Andy guessed, canting her head slightly at him, still considering him, the last of her water sloshing around in the bottle as she moved it slightly.

Nico di Angelo nodded, gazing avidly at her. He had only caught sight of her about three seconds before she fell off the balcony, slamming into him, and then a few seconds after. She was remarkably short, he noticed, and young, younger than him by a few years at least. Her eyes were as green as the sea, though a bit oddly colored, like green glass that had been shattered and repaired with the cracks remaining. She favored darker colors with a green camouflage jacket thrown over her shoulders and he could see at least one hint of a scar –circular and mostly hidden under her shirt– which made his brow furrow, but it wasn't the thing he found himself asking about.

"I've got to ask…," Nico said, staring fixedly at her snow-white curls spun with dark blue as if they were out of the world, "Is your hair natural?"

Andy sighed. How many times had someone asked her that question? Too many to count, really, but at least he wasn't being rude about it. "Yes…"

But then he did something she did not expect; he grinned brightly and said, "Whoa! _Really?_ That's so cool! I wish my hair was like that!"

"It wouldn't look very good on you, trust me," she said dryly, slightly thrown by his response. She would never wish her pale hair on anyone…and really –speaking from Carmella's perspective– white hair would not go well with his dark eyes at all. "Dark hair suits you better."

He arched a dark eyebrow, and, feeling uncomfortable, Andy unscrewed the lid from her bottle and drank another long swig.

"So, what kind of name is Andy Gotta-go?"

Andy blinked and then she laughed. "Oh, sorry about that, my name's Andromeda, but everyone calls me Andy, 'cause Andromeda's a mouthful. So, Andy Snow, nice to meet you…I guess." She scratched her head in confusion before looking around her. Lotus Hotel and Casino…she'd only been here once and that was because she chasing some hellhounds with Bill…and she'd fallen off a small balcony…and the rest they say is history. How embarrassing.

_"Lotus Hotel and Casino…only the foolish enter there," Lupa snarled._

_"Why is that, Lupa?" asked Andy._

_"It is the lair of the Lotus-eaters, designed so that anyone who enters will never want to leave; they can remain inside forever never aging, playing games for all eternity."_

_"That sounds awful!" Andy gasped in horror._

_"For some," the wolf goddess agreed,_ _leaving Andy to wonder who would prefer to remain._

Andy couldn't help but wonder if he chose to stay here of his own accord, or if he was forced to.

"Are you British? You sound British."

"Has anyone ever told you that you talk a lot?" she inquired.

He grinned. "You haven't answered my question."

"I'm Italian," she said, "but I was raised in Britain; the accent sort of just stuck."

"Nico!"

A slightly older girl than Nico was striding towards them. Andy noticed that she looked like a female version of Nico, though her face was shadowed by long dark hair and a floppy green cap. "Nico! Where did you go? Who are you bothering now?"

Andy frowned. "He's not bothering me," she said huffily. "He just gave me some water."

"Oh." Bianca di Angelo brushed a silky lock of hair back in an effort to hide her embarrassment as Andy braced her hands against her knees, pushing herself into a standing position.

It was only then that Andy recognized that odd smell that covered their bodies (she supposed that was a side-effect of becoming a goddess). They were Greek, there was something about the pair that had immediately set off warning signals in her brain, making her hair stand on end; foreign danger. The older kids at Camp Jupiter had talked about how some kids left the Legion and rejected the Roman ideas, practicing a more ancient form of fighting, but Andy knew this was different. Nico and Bianca were Greek, like _proper_ Greek.

"Andromeda Snow," she said to the girl, "everyone calls me Andy."

"Bianca di Angelo," the older girl said apologetically, "sorry about earlier…my brother gets into a lot of trouble."

Nico stuck his tongue out at his sister from behind her back; Andy had to stifle a smirk.

"Trust me, trouble's what I do best."

She straightened her jacket and the movement caused her medals to catch the light, but only for a second before they were shrouded with Mist once more. "It was nice to meet you," she said, the fingers of her right hand resting on her thigh where a knife was strapped to the denim, "but I should get going before my friends get too paranoid."

Bianca watched as she spared her brother a quick but confused glance before disappearing into the crowd of people.

"I'm pretty sure I've seen her somewhere before," Nico mused aloud, scratching his head, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

Bianca frowned because she didn't recognize the girl at all, so where could Nico have seen her from?

* * *

"So you're the new goddess?"

Andy had been gazing around Hecate House with an expression very close to awe.

It was a theatre, just like Winter said it would be. It had been cleared out; –no chairs or stage in sight– but it was a theatre nonetheless. Climbing ropes hung from the high domed ceiling, there was a particularly treacherous climbing wall, –much more dangerous than the one she'd seen and a forging area. It was very widespread; Andy could see demigods sparing in the open area and climbing the wall or ropes, while others lounged around reading books whether they were written by mortals or demigods. She was so taken by the settlement that she almost missed that someone was speaking to her.

Angelina Johnson hadn't changed very much in the past year. Her golden eyes shimmered and her restrained dreadlocks swung with every movement. Trivia's daughter couldn't help but grin.

"Hey, Andy, or should I say…Jack Frost?" Her grin was more impish now, earning her an eye twitch from the demigod-witch who was barely older than her.

Andy couldn't stifle the groan, raising a hand to rub at her forehead. "Gods, I'd hoped that nickname would die out…it's so _embarrassing!"_

The dark-skinned demigod couldn't help but laugh at that. "Well," she said between sniggers, "look at it this way, at least you are being recognized for your skills."

Andy gave her a glare. "Any child of the sea gods can learn to make ice."

A shrug of the shoulders told Andy that she didn't really care. "You're the only one I've seen make ice," she said dismissively before smirking, "Jackie."

An animalistic growl escaped the new goddess' lips at that comment. "You are officially on my hit list," Andy warned, causing her to burst into peals of laughter.

"Oh, you'll fit right in!" she said, highly amused, grabbing her arm and dragging her along, "come on, I'll show you around! We've got bigger on the inside magic!"

"Huh?" Andy asked blankly before she was dragged away, finding herself subjected to more Doctor Who references than she'd ever heard in her whole life.

Hecate House was as shrouded as she thought it would be…it was almost as though the Mist outpoured from the walls, but that would be just plain weird. From what Andy could see there were about fifteen Greek kids and twelve Roman kids, interacting without any knowledge that they were on opposite sides. It would have been more impressive if they had known each other's ancestry.

"So, what d'you think?" Angelina asked as they ended the tour. "Gonna stay?"

Andy gave the building one last look over. "Maybe," she said slowly, "there's something about this city…" she trailed off, a bit lost in thought. "Where's the founder?"

She'd been hoping to speak with Calliope, but she hadn't sensed her when she stepped foot in the establishment.

"Evans? She's not around all that much," Angelina said, pursing her lips. "Busy on some other project, probably." Andy got the feeling that Angelina had never actually seen the elusive demi-titan.

"Let me talk to a few people, Angie," Andy said instead, "then I'll get back to you."

Her golden eyes shimmered. "I'll start preparing a room, shall I?"

A scowl formed on Andy's face and it remained on her face all the way back to Camp Jupiter where she then had a long chat with her fellow senator on the coast of the Tiber River.

"Hecate House…sounds more like a safe haven for young witches and wizards than a demigod training facility," Bill mused, chewing slowly on his corned beef sandwich.

"Well, there are a couple witches and wizards," Andy conceded, "mostly Trivia's children, but some like me or Carmella."

"Only Carmella's dad was a legit wizard," Bill disagreed, "maybe a bit of a douchebag, but he was wizard."

"Sorry excuse for one," Andy grumbled under her breath. As far as she knew, she wasn't related to anyone with magic, but she knew very little about her family, so that didn't help much.

"Where is she anyways?" She glanced around as if expecting Carmella's head to pop out of the rushing surf of the Tiber, but that was doubtful to ever occur.

Bill sipped his pumpkin juice. "Oh, she thought she'd try the weekend at her dad's place."

Andy's mouth unhinged and she gaped horror-struck at her fellow senator. "You've _got_ to be kidding me!"

"Nope," Bill said, popping the 'p' obnoxiously. "I dunno why, it's the same result every time."

Andy frowned lightly. She didn't know much about having a family to return to, but she thought that with how Carmella's family treated her, she was better off. Marlene and Callie were the same, not having to deal with that issue, because Marlene's mother had died in childbirth due to some unforeseen complications that always turned Marlene's face to stone and Callie's father had been killed when she was a baby. Andy thought they were lucky in some ways, not having to deal with the kind of drama that Carmella had to.

She smoothed her fingers over the symbol of Neptune carved into the inside of her wrist, thinking of her own father.

"She wants him to accept her," Andy said in a voice that betrayed her exhaustion, "no one can fault her for that."

"No," Bill agreed, "but perhaps she's looking in the wrong direction for it."

"Maybe," Andy agreed, staring out into the raging river once more.

"All of you should go to Hecate House," Bill said, diverting her attention to him once more, "who knows? Maybe it'll do you all a bit of good. You lot need to get out and experience the world. Keeping yourselves here and training until you fall over without any real monster-killing experience isn't going to do you any good."

"We've been out a few times," Andy said defensively. "And, if you'll remember, the last time I went out, I went bonkers, literally."

"And it's not going to happen again," Bill said firmly. "Go, live a little."

* * *

The day Andy met Calliope Evans was the day she saved her life and the older demigod had given her an exasperated smile in return.

"I thought gods didn't make a habit of helping demigods," Calliope said before correcting wryly, "or demi-titans, I suppose."

She was very pretty, taking after her mother in the dark color of her hair and the blue of her eyes, though they were just a few shades lighter than the titan's, with her face a bit more oval shaped and features softer.

"I hardly count as a goddess," Andy conceded with a shrug, "besides I wanted to meet the person who created Hecate House."

A proud grin graced the demi-titan's lips. "My greatest work," she admitted without modesty. "Not nearly with the same numbers as Camp Jupiter, but I think its doing pretty well."

"I heard you hadn't been back in awhile," Andy said, considering her.

Calliope shrugged. "A girl's got to have a lot of interests, they keep me busy."

She hefted her pilum over her shoulder and Andy could see the ripple of her muscles under her skin. It was subtle but Andy was sure that was a showcase of her strength; she tried not to look impressed.

Then Calliope approached her with a considering look on her face, like she was seeing her for the first time. "Second life?" she surmised and Andy stared.

 _"What?_ "

Calliope arched an eyebrow. "So you didn't know?"

"Know what?" Andy asked flummoxed.

The blue-eyed demi-titan gave her a put-upon glance that Andy was sure she'd been on the receiving end of more than once. "One of the gifts I inherited from my mother is the ability to see souls, more importantly the lives they led before."

"Past lives?" Andy said weakly in disbelief.

"Yours is very old," Calliope said in a considering sort of voice. "Hundreds of years old, I'm sure…your death was tragic."

"What a surprise," Andy said dryly and Calliope ignored her, stabbing the pilum in the ground briefly to extend her arms non-threateningly.

"Do you mind?" she asked. "I can get a better read by touching you, then I might be able to tell you your old name."

Personally, Andy didn't really think it mattered to her, her dreams were odd and confusing –even after the gift of immortality– and mostly what she saw was brief images of people she didn't know; a man with eyes the color of the sky and a smile as bright as a flash of lightning, a blond-haired boy tugging on her hand, arms spinning her around as she danced on light feet, a woman with arrogance glittering in her eyes…she couldn't make much sense of it.

Andy made a gesture as a way to give her consent and the demi-titan gripped her shoulders tightly, and the next thing she knew Calliope's eyes had begun to glow faintly, making the blue brighter and more radiant, and then she pulled back, breathing hard, too breathless to speak.

"Are you all right?" Andy asked her, startled by her response.

"I heard you were born with the name Andromeda, is that true?" Calliope asked a moment later, once she could speak and straighten up.

"Yeah," Andy said with a small groan, "tell me you haven't been hearing about people calling me Jack Frost."

Calliope gave her a slight smile. "It's ironic, you know, you being named that."

"Why?" Andy's eyebrows both rose on her brow.

"Because the woman you're named for, Andromeda, the queen of Mycenae? That's the soul you've got. You were named after yourself."

Andy found herself gaping at her, unable to comprehend what she was saying.

Then Calliope frowned. "Who told you about Hecate House, anyways?"

Andy was momentarily thrown by the abrupt shift in topic, still trying to wrap her head around the idea of once having been a queen. "Winter Snow, daughter of Chione…but your mother was the one that explained it more in depth."

"My mother?" Calliope said, taking a step back, appearing visibly startled and then cautious. "Why?"

"I went to her for advice, I do that sometimes," Andy said, a but perturbed by the dark shadow that overtook Calliope's face. "What's wrong?"

"You're a part of one of her prophecies, aren't you?" she said shrewdly. "Be very careful. My mother is as cunning as she is ruthless and you'd be surprised how far she's willing to go to ensure that her prophecies come to pass."

There was an ominous note in her voice that made Andy uneasy as she watched the daughter of Asteria vanish into the Mist. _What did she even mean?_


	4. Life and Times of a Temporary Goddess

"Oi, you awake?"

Andy stifled a groan, turning her face inwards so it was pressing into the fabric of her mattress. "Marlene, just because I don't need sleep to continue to exist does not mean that I don't like it."

The daughter of Mars grinned impishly before launching herself onto the bed, squashing her friend who gave a pain-filled groan at the weight suddenly dropping onto her stomach. "Oh _gods—!"_

"Now you're awake," she said pleasantly, "so come on!"

Andy followed her friend, grumbling in a subdued voice and massaging her "bruised" limbs. "Why can't I just-"

"No!" There was a positively gleeful glint in her eyes and Andy really didn't like.

She groaned again, but complied, changing into the casual and practical wear that had been something that Carmella had come up with (really, Andy swore she was going to be some kind of inventor when she grew up) with come assistance from Marlene. It was a soft brown tunic that was light weighted but very durable, and Andy and her four friends preferred it very much to the bulky armor that was the standard at Camp Jupiter. Andy liked it, but she didn't really see the point to wearing it when she was immortal, but the firm stare that Marlene had given her gave her no opportunity to argue.

Andy couldn't say that she really liked Hecate House –it had too much disorder for her taste, being a Roman and all– being a chaotic sort of environment, but they did get things done, so she couldn't really complain.

Being a patron goddess was little more than a pretty title, really, Andy thought she was more like a sponsor of sorts. If the Vulcan/Hephaestus kids needed metal, she got it for them, if the Apollo kids ran out of ingredients for healing ointments, she got it for them. Really, she was too nice, that was her problem.

"Spar! Spar! Spar!" Marlene sang, bouncing up and down as they made their way down to the center of the building.

Andy tried very hard not to bemoan her enthusiasm, but that was very difficult when you were best friends with the daughter of a war god. She sighed as she weighed her blade, Harpe, in her hands, shooting out to strike against Marlene's weapon of choice, a short sword, making her grunt at the force behind it, but she quickly became used to it.

The problem with fighting with Andy was that she didn't really have a signature move that you could see through before she struck. She carried around enough weapons to supply a small army, as Callie had once complained, but then her friends did the same, so they really couldn't complain. Currently, Marlene had a rare Celestial Bronze knife strapped to her thigh, a miniaturized pilum dangling from the leather bracelet around her wrist and a shield dangling from her left ear much like the pilum at her wrist.

Marlene didn't even want to try to count how many Andy had on her.

"You don't even need them," she had once complained, trying to wheedle her out of a few weapons, but Andy had just shrugged, stating that weapons could come in handy, whether you were immortal or not, so Marlene didn't press the issue.

She ducked Andy's next swing, aiming a kick to Andy's stomach and knocking her back a few paces.

Marlene smirked, the grin lighting her eyes. "Come on, Goddess-Girl!" she taunted lightly. "Show me what'cha got!"

Even Andy's feral grin couldn't stop her in her tracks like it had to so many others. Marlene was far too used to its sight to care, let alone fear it.

"What'cha talking about?" she said. "I was just letting you get a few cheap shots in to smooth your ego!"

Now these jibing comments that the pair often tossed back and forth was rather commonplace, especially when the ones fighting were Marlene and Andy. They had entirely too much fun making fun of each other like they did.

Marlene's fighting style was pretty explanatory when you considered just who her godly parent was.

She preferred quick, jarring strikes that aimed to incapacitate (or kill, depending on who she was facing), while Callie preferred strategically placed moves aimed towards disarmament. Now Carmella, who was regularly regarded as the oddity of Fourth Cohort and of those who had Venus' blood pumping through their veins, Carmella was a genius at long-distance fighting. Her skill with the bow was second only to the children of Apollo (many of whom were a bit disgruntled by her progress). Though, she had to consent a number of times to close-range fighting with her friends, because she knew, as all did, that if a long-range fighter found themselves fighting a close-range fighter and they didn't have any practice fighting close-range, they would be in big trouble.

The same thing had happened to Andy back when she was still human (ish, being half-god and everything didn't really count as being human in most people's books), that was how she was taken by surprise by Nox Baccry, who had been renowned in long-distance warfare even before Camp Jupiter had exiled him.

What happened to Andy was terrible, there was no denying that, but it was also a lesson of what happened if you focused on only one form or warfare. Who knew, maybe the monsters would start getting smart enough to see that as well, but until then, Marlene would prepare herself as best as she could, and maybe even get Winter Snow a bit better with that curved blade of hers.

Winter was a bit weaker than most demigods. Andy never mentioned it, but Marlene knew that her eyes watched her like a hawk. She had asked her friend about it once, but Andy had been very cryptic about Winter's condition, so Marlene could only assume it was a medical issue and she didn't press the matter.

"Get your head outta the clouds!"

She yelped, dodging to the side to avoid a quick strike to her face. The problem with going against Andy was that you had to stay focused all the time, and Marlene, well, let's just say she wasn't the most focused of people.

She was really regretting asking her friend for a duel.

* * *

There she was again, this time sitting on the edge of the stone fountain, her feet dangling above the ground, only just too short for them to rest against the floor, kicking her feet forward and back like children often did. She was staring at him rather intently with a slight frown as he skipped over to stand beside her, shuffling the cards in his hands as he did so.

"You came back." Nico hoped he didn't sound too pleased, but she had been the first person that he'd spoken to…in a while (he wasn't sure exactly how long), not including Bianca, of course. Even if she was a bit younger than him, though how much he couldn't be certain, because she looked a little older than when they'd first met.

She eyed him speculatively as he leaned against the brick that wrapped around the little pond that seemed to glow with life. "Yes," she said finally. "I just don't get you."

Nico blinked owlishly at her in a bit of confusion. "Huh?"

"You are a…" she floundered for the proper word to describe the situation, "curiosity."

He arched a dark eyebrow at her. "And you are a complex puzzle," he retorted.

"Thank you," Andy smirked smugly.

"That wasn't a compliment."

Her smirk widened. "Yeah, it was."

He lifted a hand, keeping about an inch of space between his first finger and his thumb, making her laugh.

"Don't worry," she said slyly, "I'll figure you out eventually."

"And won't that be boring," Nico said, bumping his shoulder with hers, something that made her stare at him in surprise.

"Hardly," she said dryly, her lips twitching again, "I'm never bored."

"Then you must be very busy," Nico said with a snort, "because I get bored a lot."

She shrugged her shoulders as if always having something to do didn't bother her too much. "I don't mind," she said, "doing something's better than doing nothing."

Nico simply hummed to her words, flipping through his cards again.

"What is that game that you're obsessed with?" she asked, frowning in befuddlement towards the small pile of cards he was holding in his hands.

"Mythomagic," he said with a bright grin, "it's a trading card game."

He held up one of the cards to show her and she frowned at the stats for Dionysus.

"I think a couple of…cabins at my old camp played that game," she said finally as he returned to his riffling. "I could never get into it."

"Then you're missing out," he said with a bright grin.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. "Or maybe you're just an obsessed fanboy," she retorted.

 _"Hey!"_ he complained. "Respect your elders!"

She gave him an unlady-like snort. "Right," she drawled out, "you're, what, four years older than me?"

"I'm as ancient as the gods," he proclaimed with a dramatic air that reduced Andy to giggles that she attempted to smother with her hand and failed epically.

"Uh-huh," she said sarcastically, "right, you keep telling yourself that."

"I will," he said, acting affronted, looking down his nose at her. Andy blinked and stared because she finally understood just who it was that he looked so much like; Hades, the Greek counterpart of Pluto, the only god deemed worse than Neptune in Camp Jupiter.

"I have to go," she said suddenly, stumbling over her words, "I have to go talk to my uncle about something."

"Did I say something?" Nico asked, his face falling.

"No!" Andy said quickly to assuage his worries, waving them carelessly aside with the fling of her hand. "It's got nothing to do with you, I just forgot I needed to talk to him, that's all…I'll see you around?"

The toothy grin was back. "I'll be here!"

Andy gave him a crooked smile before weaving through the heavy throng of people and out of the always open doors. Unfortunately, that was when she ran into a bit of trouble and that bit of trouble was a starved looking Hellhound that bore its teeth menacingly at her.

The bad thing about monsters was that they didn't really care if you were immortal, they'd still try to kill you like they did before your ascension to immortality.

" _Are you kidding me_?!" Andy growled angrily, lurching to the side to avoid the apparently very hungry Hellhound, yelping in pain as its claws slashed through the thigh of her pants.

"Come _on_!" Andy bemoaned, yelling at the ground –to Hades, quite obviously-, "What in the name of _Hades_ did I ever do to you, Uncle?!"

The beast roared and Andy maneuvered out of the way of its claw with difficulty –the maneuver itself cost her half her shirt. As she landed, she rolled, ankle-over-neck, to where her blade, Harpe, lay, having been tossed aside in her haste to avoid losing her head. Moving quickly, she lurched to her feet, swinging the sword blindly, relying mainly on her muscle memory. When her eyesight finally cleared, the beast was gone, leaving only a small pile of golden dust in its wake, but she didn't seem to care about that.

Andy clenched her fists, white-faced and furious, before disappearing into an ocean breeze.

"Hello, Charon."

The ferryman looked up sharply, his face melting into a crude smile. "Ahh, the Ice Queen, I'm guessing you're not here because you're dead?"

Andy laughed, leaning on her crooked staff (the only thing that came close to being a symbol of power, but she wouldn't need one of those, as, if Lord Jupiter had predicted it correctly, she wouldn't be immortal for longer than a few years). "No, came close, but no. And wouldn't dying involve being mortal?"

Charon leaned over the desk and winced at how ripped her clothes were and how golden blood-soaked they were. "Looks painful. Hellhound?" He seemed to be ignoring the question. Perhaps he had forgotten that she had been granted immortality; Andy tried not to feel too miffed about it.

"Why do you think I'm here?" asked Andy wryly, tossing him an exaggerated eye roll which she could have probably pulled off better with she was older, but, what the hell? "Can I go through?"

"Know the way? _Bah!_ Of course you know the way!" He shooed her with his hand as she thanked him graciously.

The scent of Persephone's Garden was overwhelming, but not unbelievably so. Andy wandered around the garden, wondering if her uncle was nearby. Unfortunately, the scent was very tantalizing and before she could stop herself, Andy found herself reaching for an especially juicy pomegranate.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," an amused voice commented.

Andy yelped violently, shooting twelve feet into the air and when she returned to the ground she looked like a properly chastised eight year-old.

"Lady Persephone!" She rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment, her cheeks a dark hue of red. "Fancy seeing you here!" Persephone was one of the only immortals that she had called initially by their Greek name, mostly because Persephone liked it better than Proserpina. Besides, there was very little difference between Proserpina and Persephone, unlike Athena and Minerva who were polar opposites. Persephone only got a mild headache as opposed to the skull-splitting ones that the Big Three felt. Even if the gods were in their Greek forms, she often slipped them by their Roman names, but they didn't mind too much, as she was getting better about their Greek names, except for Athena who hated being reminded of her Roman counterpart Minerva.

"Yes…fancy that." Persephone's lips curled into a smile and her brown eyes crinkling in the corners. "Imagine finding the Queen of the Underworld…in the Underworld."

"Weird," Andy agreed with a nervous laugh, tugging lightly on a blue strand of her hair.

Persephone watched her favorite niece in a mixture of curiosity and concern –she had taken a shine to the young goddess when she began to visit her in the Underworld, to make it less lonely (Andy was regretting introducing her to card games, she was a real demon at them)-, "Andy…is something wrong?"

Andy pondered that for a moment. Obviously she couldn't tell the goddess of springtime about Nico or Bianca, that would just be adding insult to injury, if they were who she thought they were, and she was almost certain of that fact now.

"No, it's nothing," she assured her, "it's just something that I hope your husband can clear up for me."

"I see," she said, her eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion, "if you are certain."

"I am, ma'am," she said, giving her a light bow.

"Andromeda Snow…my, this is a surprise."

Andy yelped violently once more, shooting once more into the air, pointing her staff at the owner of the voice, and this time ice spread from the grass to thoroughly engulf one of the silver trees.

Hades raised an eyebrow at the ice spreading out over the grass and then at his niece. She wasn't normally this jumpy…how peculiar.

Andy swore colorfully in Italian, red patches of color coloring her cheekbones. " _Dolce figlio di Satana_! What's _wrong_ with you people?!"(Sweet son of Satan!)

And for the first time in a very long time, Hades and Persephone shared a smile, because it was very rare to embarrass Andy so thoroughly, as she always seemed to be on her guard for any sort of attack.

"You wanted a word, did you not, Niece?" he asked instead, keeping the amusement out of his voice far easily than Andy would have imagined.

Andy hung in midair, sitting sidesaddle on her staff as if it was a witch's broom, grumbling mutinously as she followed the Lord of the Dead.

"You keep sending Hellhounds after me!" she growled.

Hades raised an eyebrow. "Think of it as training."

" _Training?!_ " she practically shrieked. "My whole _life_ has been one whole training exercise! I need some _me_ time!"

Hades merely rolled his eyes at the antics of his niece.

Andy blew a strand of hair out of her face, wrinkling her nose as she set her booted feet onto the ground once more. "You know what _fine_ , just fine, but I will have you know that I know who the father of Bianca and Nico di Angelo is."

It was almost as if the god of the dead was one of Medusa's victims, (though that was highly unlikely, still, a girl could dream) or to those that didn't understand the term, complete stone.

"Aren't you glad I didn't say anything in front of your wife, now?" Andy asked with a more than slightly smirking smile.

Hades unfroze, watching her carefully. "Are you going to tell Zeus?"

The Ice Queen regarded him coolly for a moment before speaking. "No," she said, dropping to the ground in a kneeling position to pick up an emerald the size of a ping pong ball. The gem was cursed, obviously, both because it was in the Underworld, and because it practically radiated death. She frowned slightly; that sounded a bit like the di Angelos, now that she thought about it. The pair emanated the same dark aura as this gem and their father, to a degree. If she had to pick one, she would probably say that Nico had the most of the death god's genes, but she was being a bit biased; she'd hardly seen Bianca for more than a minute or two.

"No?" he repeated in disbelief, his dark eyebrows arching on his pale forehead, and the intense fire in his eyes lessening slightly.

"It's not really my business, now is it? Besides if I told Lord Jupiter—" That jibe was to remind him that she had no loyalty towards Greece; she served Jupiter, and Jupiter alone. "—he would probably kill Ni-them," she said, her cheeks pinking as she caught herself, before her expression became uncharacteristically stormy, "and I wouldn't be very happy."

Hades did not thank her, but Andy didn't mind, he was a difficult man displaying or giving love. Andy surprised herself with her nerve when she jumped up slightly to kiss his pale cheek and wave goodbye, when—

" _Holy shit_!" she yelled pointing her staff offensively at the ground. "What the Hades is that?!"

Hades looked down and a sadistic laugh erupted from his lips; it was a baby Hellhound. Well, Hellhound was a mild term for it; it was a bastard offspring of a Hellhound and some sort of wolf. Thus, the Hellhound had the body shape of a wolf, but larger with jet black fur and glowing red eyes. "It seems you've found a familiar. Merry Christmas, Andy." The sarcasm would have been obvious even to someone who didn't even know what sarcasm was.

Andy glared mutinously at him at him, trying to move as little as possible as the Hellhound-wolf gnawed gently on one of her legs, its tail wagging as it did so. "Haha, you've had your laugh! Now get it off!"

Hades chuckled. "Maybe you should read up on familiars, Andy, they're for life, you know."

Andy's shoulders sagged and she looked at him with a completely disbelieving face. "Say _what?!_ You _can't_ be serious?! Uncle! _Uncle!_ " Possibly that would be the first and only time she called the Lord of the Underworld 'uncle'.

And Hades left her with the baby Hellhound hugging her leg, hiding his smile in the shadows.

" _Damn you!_ "

* * *

Harry was almost certain she was an angel, but he couldn't be quite sure. He barely saw her as it was, she was rather good at disappearing. Every time he saw a flash of white and blue, he had to double check to make certain if it was her or not (usually, it wasn't). But sometimes it was her, the angel-girl with eyes like his and hair like snow and ice (ice was blue, wasn't it? He always used blue for ice when he drew it, so it must be), the girl that sometimes floated a few centimeters off of the ground.

Sometimes she'd catch him looking and she'd wink and raise a single finger to her lips before turning and disappearing in the wind as though she had never really been there in the first place. It was aggravating and Harry was almost sure that he'd made her up.

So he stood impatiently at the bus stop waiting for the school bus to show up (his cousin Dudley was driven by his aunt and uncle, but they refused to drive him), when a voice interrupted his thoughts, "You should do Artemis the Huntress."

Harry blinked and looked to the side, jumping suddenly as he saw the person sitting on the bench. Her legs were crossed and one hand propped open a book while the other was thrown over the back of the bench, radiating that same sort of dangerous aura that people seemed to think he had.

Angel-girl practically oozed confidence, he could tell by the way she was sitting and the way she talked, with that formal tongue that made you feel less than what you were (that was not her intention, but, if you will recall, she was raised by Blood Supremacist Walburga Black and _was_ a goddess). And then she gave him a crooked smile that hardly fit the lilt of her voice at all.

"Hello, Harry," she said.

Now, Harry Potter's ADHD brain was going into hyper drive. How did she know his name? What was her name? Why was she following—

"Your project for school," she continued, "you should do Artemis."

"Er…why?" he asked in confusion.

Her smirk widened. "'Cause Artemis is awesome, that's why. Don't ask silly questions, you goof."

His aunt always said "Don't ask questions, boy," with a sort of contempt that he couldn't fathom, but the way she had said those words with silly and goof, it made them almost seem humorous.

Angel-girl snapped her book shut and stood, yawning widely. "Ah, I should get back before they try to claim I've been kidnapped again—" _Again?_ Harry couldn't help but think in bemusement. "—and stage a rescue party. Later, _Nipotino_ (little nephew)." She dropped the book into his surprised hands and started walking in the opposite direction with her hands stuffed into her army jacket and her hair flying behind her like a kaleidoscope of blue and white.

"Wait!" Harry called after her. "What's your name?"

She turned back slightly to give him that same crooked smile that made him feel smaller than his five years. "I'm Andy, your mum's half-sister. See you around, little nephew."

Harry's jaw unhinged as he watched her go, gaping even as the bus pulled up beside him. This day had just gotten interesting.


	5. Return of the Lost

There were times when being a demigod really, really sucked, and this was one of those horrible times, Callie Evaine thought in irritation.

Two weeks in the mortal world didn't seem like such a stretch when they first started, Callie had to admit, but it seemed like all the monsters had converged on her, Carmella, Marlene, Winter, and Andy. Callie was possibly the least injured of them all with a long slice up her arm and a few bruises along the length of her face. Well, when she said least injured, she wasn't including Andy who had a habit of self-repairing her cuts and bruises, being a goddess and all. Unfortunately, the rest of them had to heal the old-fashioned way, and that took time, usually time that they didn't have. Callie almost wished Andy hadn't taken immortality when it was offered just so she could be suffering with the rest of them.

Thunder boomed overhead, filling the sky with storm clouds…Zeus must be having a bad day.

Andy scowled at the sky as if it had a personal vendetta against her, which was always possible, considering the gods.

"I wouldn't have thought that surviving for two weeks was so difficult," Marlene grumbled, "is it always like this?"

Andy's eyebrow twitched slightly. "It's probably because I'm with you," she said dryly, "even though I'm a goddess, a child of one of the Big Three is much stronger than that of other demigods. You'd probably be able to cross the entire continent with only running into a few monsters if—"

"Bad idea," Callie interjected with Winter nodding furiously, holding her knife loosely in her hand while her slowly healing broken arm was wrapped in a sling around her neck.

Andy cast them all an annoyed look, before glancing off into the distance. "Looks like we've got a couple of _Empousai_ incoming." Her eyes fell to Carmella who had her arm locked around Marlene's neck in an effort to remain upright, having sustained the heaviest of damage to her leg and abdomen.

"We'll have to split up," she decided without their input. "I'll take Carmella. Marlene, you, Callie, and Winter make your way back to Hecate House. Carmella and I will take the long way round."

Marlene's brown orbs flickered from Carmella to Andy and an understanding passed between them that happened too fast for the others to take account of.

"If we don't return within a day," Andy continued, "then you can come back out to search for us, all right?"

They grumbled but complied as Marlene transferred Carmella to her friend.

"Is it a good thing or a bad thing that the Empousai will be focused on them?" Carmella wondered aloud, blinking harshly to clear her sight.

"I would think a bit of both," Andy said dryly, "come on, I know a safe place where we can lie lo—"

"Andy?"

The use of her name had the goddess of ice reaching for the knife concealed at her waist as she turned towards the person who had spoken.

The white hair caught Sally Jackson's eye immediately, as it always did. Normally, it was just the wisps of an elderly man or woman, but this time it was different, this time it was on a young girl. It was spun with blue, but it was too light to be considered natural in the eyes of others.

The bronze knife glowed in the heat of the day, held stiffly at her side, her other arm helping to brace her injured friend against her.

"Andy?" she had said the name without meaning to, and instantly, familiar, oh so familiar, sea-green eyes snapped to hers.

She pointed the knife at her, causing the woman to recoil slightly. "How do you know my name?"

"Andy?" her friend hummed at her side, a little out of it. "Wazzgoingon?"

"Andromeda Atalanta," Sally whispered in awe, dawning realization making her heart leap in her chest. "That's your name, isn't it?"

The child's grip tightened. "So, what?" Her eyes were accusing and fiery, her posture was firm and ready. Her little girl had been replaced by a warrior weathered by many battles. And that thick accent…that was something she had not been expecting.

"That's the name I gave my daughter," she said weakly.

Andy's eyes bulged slightly. "Excuse me?" she demanded. "What did you just say?"

"Andy!" a yell through the crowd came, it was a girl with the grey eyes of Athena. "Furies at six o'clock!"

"Merde!" Andy hissed. What was the point of splitting up if the daughter of the wisdom goddess kept coming back? "We'll have to catch you later," she said, her green eyes sweeping over the woman and committing her face to memory. And then she tightened her grip on her friend and rocketed into the sky, leaving her biological mother gaping in her wake.

"Mom?" Her son Percy who was only a year older than his sister tugged lightly on his mother's freely hanging hand, concern coloring his bright green eyes. "Mom, are you crying?"

Sally was indeed crying. The tears were leaving soft tracks down her cheeks as she raised her head and looked up to the heavens, because somewhere up there her little girl was flying around like a bird free from her cage. And that, that just made her day all the more brighter; the fact that Andy was alive.

"It's nothing Percy," she said, smiling down at her son, her son who was innocent to the world that his sister was clearly so firmly entrenched in, if what Sally had seen of her could be inferred, innocent to the trials he would soon be facing. And for that, Sally was very thankful.

"Where are we?" was the first thing out of Carmella's mouth the second she awoke. It was dark and musky and she could smell rotting flesh. These weren't very good signs. "It's not some kind of torture chamber, is it?"

Andy gave a light laugh at her question. "Not quite. This is the Labyrinth of Daedalus."

Carmella groaned as she attempted to sit up, only to be pushed down once more by Andy's gentle hand. "Careful," she warned, "I need to redress your wounds."

Carmella gave a sound of annoyance. Andy had always hated that part of getting injured, back when she was a demigod. She would complain and gripe and moan for hours. Sometimes she got her way and other times she didn't. The annoyance shifted to pain as Andy drew back her shirt to get a good look at the blood-soaked bandages covering the slice to her stomach. Andy cut them free, tossing them into the blackness as she pulled a fresh roll of bandages free from her little bag of tricks. Honestly, Carmella swore she could hide a bloody car in there!

"I-Is it bad?" she couldn't help but ask, taking note of the dark look in her eyes.

Andy considered lying. "Well, it could be worse," she amended, "but we've got some nectar left, and that'll help—"

"Couldn't you just use some of your godly powers or power?" Carmella asked through gritted teeth as her friend poured the godly drink onto her skin, making it burn like hell, but she wasn't going to dignify it with a cry of pain.

"I can't," Andy said regretfully. "It's one of the rules, not helping demigods too much."

"Whoever came up with that rule _sucked!"_ Carmella complained.

"Well no one's denying that," Andy muttered under her breath as the wound became not quite so deep before tying the bandage tightly around her midsection.

"Oh _gods!"_ Carmella gasped as pain rippled through her body once more.

"Sorry," Andy quickly apologized.

"You said…we're in…Labyrinth?" Carmella wheezed with a harsh breath, her cheeks more flushed than usual.

"Yeah," Andy said, glancing down the barely illuminated corridor, "sorry, it was the first place that popped into my head."

"S'all right," the daughter of Venus hissed.

"Rest," Andy ordered, "we'll move when you've caught a breather."

Apparently her old friend agreed with her because in a matter of seconds her eyes had rolled back in her head and she had fainted. At first, Andy had worried –fainting from pain was never a good thing-, but she recognized the healing trance from something her cousin Apollo had described. She frowned slightly. That was an advanced healing art, how did—?

Tears pricked her eyes for the first time in a very long time.

"I wanna protect you, like you protect us!" Carmella had once said…Andy couldn't quite recall when, all her childhood memories were a bit of a muddle.

Andy tugged on the ratty end of her pale braid, ignoring the tears until they subsided from her frequent blinks. Carmella was, understandably, an oddity to the children and descendents of Venus. She was strong and confident and analytical, but that wasn't to say that those of Venus' blood were ditzy or anything, just that they weren't anywhere close to what Carmella was, a true Daughter of Rome.

A smile tugged at her lips, and though she didn't know it, making her face seem much softer than it usually was, being almost always set in a frown with determination squaring her jaw and giving her an almost lupine appearance.

Andy should have taken her own advice and gotten some sleep.

* * *

_Perseus could see what they meant when they said that Princess Andromeda was the pride of Aethiopia. Her hair was as dark as a starless midnight sky and her eyes were as bright as a bronze ochre._

_"I can feel your eyes," she said, humored by his attention. It was rare that someone paid so much to her._

_"My sincerest apologies," Perseus said with a low bow._

_"I did not say that I minded," she added with a coy smile as she moved past him, the whicker basket in her arm, brushing against him as she did so, kneeling and searching the earth for the proper medicinal herbs that she had come out to the coastline to search for. Under the cover of doing her job, she allowed herself to glance at him through the curtain of her hair. He was very handsome. His hair was a dark blonde, rare in these parts, and his eyes were a shocking blue. He looked an awful lot like an old friend of Andromeda's mother, Cassiopeia. What was her name again? Ah, that's right, it was Danaë, Princess of Argos, the woman who had been locked inside of a tower and then consequently banished within years of her imprisonment._

_"How is your mother?" she asked him, and not two seconds later he was behind her with his Imperial Bronze blade to her throat. Andromeda struggled not to move._

_"What would you know of her?" he hissed in her ear as she gulped slightly._

_"My mother and yours are old friends," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "I did not mean it as an insult."_

_His blade disappeared from her neck quickly at that and Andromeda breathed easy for a moment._

_"My apologies," he mumbled, bowing his head humbly to her. "I did not mean to frighten you."_

_She eyed him calmly for a moment, not betraying how her heart was racing in her chest at the move he had just done. "It is all right," she finally managed to see, a soft smile twitching onto her lips, "It is not every day that I find a knife aimed at my throat."_

_"I suppose you don't approve much of violence?" he asked in a wry voice._

_Andromeda's shoulders lifted and fell at that comment. "There is nothing wrong with fighting for what you believe in, but violence is not always the most desirable."_

_Perseus could not help but smile in return._

* * *

"Her injuries must not have been as bad as I thought," Marlene mentioned to Andy as they leaned against the wall, looking into the small hospital ward of Hecate House.

"The wonders of nectar," Andy said in a calm and quiet voice that caught her friend's interest instantly.

"Something wrong?" she couldn't help but ask, her crimson eyebrows furrowing together.

"Hm?" Andy lifted her to look at the daughter of Mars squarely in the eyes. The startled expression she was wearing told her that the whitette had been a bit lost in thought. "Can you hold down the fort for a bit, Lene?"

"Sure," Marlene said automatically and without question, "you got something you need to do?"

"A couple," Andy admitted, "I should be back in a few hours, but if I'm not, don't get too worried."

"Right-o," Marlene barely had time to say before Andy evaporated before her very eyes, reappearing hundreds upon hundreds of miles above Manhattan, on Olympus.

It wasn't a Solstice or an Equinox, so Andy wasn't surprised to see that there weren't as many immortals or spirits running around; that would finding him much easier.

"Niece."

Or he could find her, whichever one worked best.

Andy bowed lowly at the waist to the king of the gods. "My lord."

Jupiter inclined his head slightly in the barest show of respect to her. Still, it was more than her own father had ever done for her. "Anything to report?"

"I sense that the one you seek is now hidden in Hecate House instead of Camp Jupiter," Andy said, falling into step beside him, "but they are…skilled. I have yet to pinpoint which member of Hecate House is the traitor."

Jupiter nodded his head in agreement.

"I will report when I have more information," Andy continued, and, without waiting for his dismissal, shattered into hundreds of tiny ice shards.

She reappeared just in time to be bowled over by Nico di Angelo who realized a second too late that he'd looked behind him too long, ramming head long into her, sending them both tumbling down the staircase, amidst a yelp of surprise. When they finally stopped rolling, Nico moaned under his breath at his bruised limbs, lifting himself off the person he'd tumbled with. He blinked. "Andy?"

The girl stirred slightly, groaning slightly, her green eyes blinking open in surprise. " _Nico_?"

"Um…hi?" Nico said eloquently, his statement coming out more like a question.

"Hi…" Andy said slowly, cocking her head slightly to peer out of his arms, "Is that Alecto?"

"Friend of yours?" asked Nico, looking back in time to see the Fury erupt into flames, "Is she dead?"

Andy jutted out her lip in frustration. "No, she's not a friend of mine, and she's not dead, though she might be when I catch up with her."

When she spoke like that, Nico often had to wonder if she was joking or being completely serious.

Her cheeks dusted a faint pink. "Er…are you going to get off me?"

"Oh!" Nico bypassed her pink and went straight to a beet red as he rolled off her. "Sorry."

"It's all right," Andy said, keeping her eyes to the ground. "But I should get going…monsters to chase, family issues to sort out…"

"Family issues?" Nico said in concern. "Is something wrong?"

"No…well, not really," Andy amended, "it's just…I was thinking of looking for my Mum."

"Your mum?" Nico asked flummoxed.

Her pale eyebrows creased together in a frown. How old was she now? Nico couldn't help but wonder. Eight? Nine? It was so hard to tell.

"Did I ever tell you about my family?" she asked him, looking him straight in the face with her usually unnerving eyes, but Nico didn't mind the intensity that they held. The eyes had seemed too old for her face, that had been his first thought when they'd met. It was one of the things that made her so…puzzling.

"No," he said slowly, "why?"

Andy sighed slightly, sitting back down on the floor and Nico followed suit, his curiosity piqued.

"I was kidnapped when I was just a few days old," she said with a wince, as if she didn't like remembering what had happened, even if she couldn't remember it, "by this woman called Walburga Black."

"Strange name."

She cracked a smile at that. "Well, you're not wrong there," she muttered. "Anyways, Walburga raised me like I was her daughter, but she was a terrible mother. I only found out about my other family when I was about…seven, I think." She frowned slightly. "I have a nephew in Britain who's only a few years younger than me, and I've got a mother and a brother in New York."

"Have you ever met any of them?" Nico asked her.

A grin graced her lips. "I've met my nephew, Harry," she said, "he's quiet, and sweet…not very much like me," she realized.

"Maybe you're secretly angelic," Nico surmised with a wink, earning him an eye roll.

"Yeah," she snorted, "that's likely. Anyways, I kind of ran into my mother earlier today, so I was thinking of going and finding her…and…I don't know." She buried her face in her hands. "What if she doesn't like me?"

She spoke those words with such fear that Nico could have sworn that he was talking to someone other than Andy. It was so unlike her.

"She won't hate you," he assured her.

"How can you be sure?" she demanded, a fire igniting in her eyes, making it look like her eyes were green kaleidoscopes, reflecting so many shades of the colors.

"Just go find your mother," Nico said, pulling her to her feet and steering her towards the entrance to the Lotus Hotel and Casino. "And when you come back, you can tell me all about what those monsters that attacked me were."

Andy opened her mouth to speak, when Nico beat her to it.

" _Arrivederci (Goodbye),"_ he told her shortly before pushing her through the doors.

"I'll get you for this!" she called behind her, to which he just waved cheerfully.

* * *

The moment that Sally Jackson felt the wave of heat, she knew that she wasn't alone. That fireplace hadn't worked as long as she, Percy, and Gabe had lived in the apartment. Moving slowly, clutching a blunt kitchen knife in her hand as she turned around the corner.

She had her hands hovering over the logs in the fireplace, raising her hand so that the fire grew with her hand.

Sally gulped. She recognized the white and blue hair instantly and when the child turned, she was graced with that face that both resembled her and didn't.

"Hello," Andy said calmer than she felt, "we didn't get a chance to talk last time…I was a little busy…" She twisted her hands uncomfortably in front of her, a habit that she had no way of knowing that she had picked up from the woman before her.

"Hello," Sally said, just as quietly, her groceries forgotten, "I," her voice faltered, "I wasn't sure if you knew who I was."

Andy glanced out of the window. "Mercury told me who you were…my cousin is great at gathering information."

Mercury…so that was Hermes? Sally couldn't help but think that it was strange how she referred to the god as her cousin. She seemed to be very familiar with him, and perhaps with a number of the gods.

"I see," Sally said. This conversation was growing thick with tension (or was that her daughter's demigod powers acting up?) as mother and daughter tried to get past awkward idle conversation.

She allowed herself to look over the child that she should have raised with a forlorn sigh. Dangerous was one way to describe the eight year old, regal was another. Sally was pretty sure that she hadn't gotten those cheekbones from her, or that fashion sense (she seemed to have a thing for camouflage).

"So…is this where we hug and I tell everything that has happened to me in the past eight years?" Andy asked uncomfortably, rubbing the heel of her black combat boot against the ground. Her attention was fixed on the ground, so she didn't notice her mother's arms coming around her until she had already hugged her tight. Reflexively, Andy instantly stiffened, but after a few moments, she relaxed and raised her arms to awkwardly hug her back. Not many people had ever hugged her, and none like her mother' tight, strangling, but warm and comforting at the same time.

"I'm sorry," Andy couldn't help saying. "I'm sorry that it took me so long to find my way home."

"It's alright, oh gods, I thought I'd never see you again!" Andy could hear the tears in her voice even before she saw them when they parted. Sally held her face in her hands, cradling Andy's cheeks as if she was a fragile item that could drop and shatter at any moment.

"Oh, you've grown up so beautifully!"

"Mum!" Andy's cheeks flushed under her hands. "I'm only eight!" Were all mothers like this? Andy had to assume so.

Sally couldn't help but smile at how she gave one of those automatic responses, like all children did, but then she called her 'Mum.' She knew that her daughter must have been raised in Britain with an accent like that, so 'Mum' made more sense than 'Mom,' and she was a little glad that each of her children called her by something else. She wasn't sure why, though.

"You're still the prettiest eight year old I know," Sally said, pressing a motherly kiss to her forehead, making her blush harder.

"Because you don't have a biased view, or anything," Andy grumbled under her breath, wrinkling her nose slightly.

"Mothers never have biased views," Sally assured her, "just Jacksons. And I'm sure your brother would agree."

Andy flushed again, bowing her head slightly. "My brother…what's his name?"

"Percy, short for Perseus."

Well, that was awkward, Andy had to admit. Andromeda and Perseus were husband and wife, the king and queen of Mycenae, imagine being brother and sister and being named after them.

Andy didn't have much time to contemplate that as the door swung open and a loud voice proclaimed "I'm home!"

She could only wonder if her brother looked anything like her father or her nephew.


	6. Eyes of the Sea

Andy didn't even have time to prepare herself when her brother stepped into the room, his eyes meeting hers in a matter of seconds, the green turning into pools of confusion. Andy couldn't help but try her hardest not to flinch, because he looked an awful lot like her father. And a lot like Harry.

He was dark unruly hair just like her father, and his skin had a bit more color to it than Harry did, but Harry was British. His eyes, she thought, looked more like Harry's than hers. Carmella had once told her that they looked more like fractured green glass than the sea, and Andy was inclined to agree.

She could see no similarities between her and this Greek. She was a warrior, while he had no knowledge of the world she had been raised in.

Regal was the first word that came to Percy Jackson's mind (it meant like a queen; his mom had told him that once) when he laid his eyes on her. Shoulders back, spine straight, feet spaced evenly, eyes cold, and hair neatly pinned away from her face. The dark clothes, the sarcastic lips, and cold eyes made her look like the most dangerous person he would ever meet, and then there was the fact that her body was tensed, as if ready to flee at any second.

"Hello," he said, "who're you?"

She blinked eyes oddly at her, her pale eyebrows furrowing into a slight frown. "I'm Andromeda, but everyone calls me Andy." That was her automatic response whenever people asked her what her name was. "You're…Perseus?" The Greek name twisted oddly on her tongue.

"Percy," he corrected automatically, his lips puffing outwards slightly into the barest of pouts as he frowned. "Andromeda…like my sister Andromeda?"

"So, I've been told," Andy said.

Her eyes were sharp and cautious and Percy had a feeling as though she was analyzing him.

"I wasn't expecting my brother to look so much like Father," she admitted, making him start, before moving forward to envelop her in a rather sudden hug.

The movement surprised her; it was the last thing that she would have expected. She would have thought that maybe her mother wouldn't talk about her missing daughter to her brother, maybe hoping Andy would fade into obscurity, forgotten. It was rare that children borne of the same mortal and same god with the god having a child from both of his sides (Greek and Roman) could live peacefully under the same household.

Andy had no love for Greece, of that, she was certain, but she would endure it for the sake of him.

Her stiff shoulders relaxed slightly and she finally raised her arms to wrap around his shoulders. "Hello…Percy."

"Hello," he said, his voice muffled by her shoulder, before he drew back and scrubbed furiously at his eyes, making her smile, a smile that her own mother, standing in the doorway, reflected.

Andy couldn't help but feel awkward in this situation. She wasn't really good at talking to people, much less people who didn't know her at all, despite sharing a blood connection to her.

Percy was obviously the side of the sea on a very clear day, you could see so far down into it that you could count the fish and coral within, but Andy was the sea in the middle of a storm, raging without restraint, hiding the beauty beneath the surface, and leaving scars on passing ships.

Andy scratched her cheek uncomfortably. "Maybe I should just lea—"

"No!" Mother and son said at the same time, making Andy stare at them as if they were out of the world. "Please," her mother added, "we're all new to this…please stay."

Andy rubbed her against her curled pointer finger, but she relented, sitting down on the vacant couch.

"I wish I could tell you everything," she said after a long moment, "but I would be breaking a lot of laws if I did."

"Why?" Percy asked in complete confusion.

Andy shrugged her shoulders, but the move was anything but casual. "That's just the way it is," she said in a voice that demanded no argument. "I can tell you that the woman who…took me was named Walburga Black, she's, or she was, a very important person back in Britain, the head of one of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses, it's like a group of really old and really rich families," she tried to explain to her older brother who looked a bit confused at her wording (this was what happened when you were raised by a noblewoman). "I don't know why she did it, she never told me."

"This Black woman," her mother said, feeling a righteous anger welling inside of her at the mention of the woman who had taken her baby from her, "she's dead?"

"Old age," Andy agreed. "I didn't even know I was adopted until the day she died. She wasn't…" Andy's words trailed off slightly and her eyebrows melded together as she lost her train of thought. "I really don't know what there is to talk about," she admitted a bit helplessly. "I was so used to it being just me and Harry."

"Harry?" Sally asked.

"Sorry," Andy said in slight embarrassment, "he's my nephew, the son of my half-sister, and I suppose yours as well," she added to Percy, "his mother was Lily Potter."

Sally vaguely remembered that red-haired woman who had come to her sister's birth. If she was to compare both daughters of the sea god side by side, she was certain that the similarities would be few in number, still, she waited and listened patiently as her little girl opened her mouth and spilled her secrets, or, at least the ones she could tell them.

* * *

"So, how'd it go?"

"Fine," Andy said shortly, fiddling with the buttons of the pinball machine while either di Angelo child hovered on either side of the machine.

Bianca gave her an incredulous look. Over the past few weeks (because, if you'll remember, time passed slowly, so she and her brother had no way of knowing that it had been months since they'd met) Bianca had come to like her little brother's friend, though not nearly as much as he did.

"Well, it was a bit awkward," Andy admitted, "but Percy and my mum are really nice."

"Are you going to go see them again anytime soon?" Nico asked her with a bright grin.

"Yeah, er, I think," Andy said uncomfortably, "they seemed pretty keen on it…though I don't think Mum's husband likes me too much, but Percy says he doesn't like him either, so…"

Andy cursed under her breath as the pinball escaped her yet again.

"I'm sure it'll get better," Bianca said in what she hoped was a soothing manner.

"Maybe," Andy grunted before brightening slightly, "Its Harry's birthday on Friday, and he said he wants to meet everyone in the family, so that'll be fun." She grinned. "Mum's really looking forward to it, another kid to dote on, or something like that…" She hadn't been quite sure how her brother and mother would respond to Harry who was only a few years younger than her, but they seemed to take in stride.

The only part about herself and Harry that she elected to tell her family was of the magical blood in their veins. Percy thought it was very cool that she was a witch, but she doubted that he understood much of what it meant to be one, but that was fine, Andy didn't mind too much.

"What're you planning on doing?"

Andy shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno. I think we're going to have some kind of picnic in the park. Harry doesn't get out a lot, or have much fun," she added almost as an afterthought.

"That's so sad!" Bianca said in horror.

Andy shrugged. She didn't have the heart to say that Harry probably was getting off easy compared to her life.

"So are you going to tell us about the whole monster thing?"

Andy's hand slipped and accidentally slammed against one of the sides of the pinball machine. She shook out her hand, gritting her teeth slightly as she uttered his name. "Nico di Angelo!"

"What? It's an honest question!" he retorted without any heat. "Besides you promised."

She tossed a fiery scowl his way. "I didn't agree to that."

"C'mon, Andy!" Nico whined, making it sound very much like he was the eight year old and Andy was the twelve year old. " _Please!"_

The puppy dog eyes were a good touch, she had to admit, but he wouldn't break her so easily.

"Look," she said in a dark voice that drew their attention immediately, "even telling you that could be dangerous, it could lead to…" She didn't want to say death, but it could have been easily inferred. She sighed again. "Are you absolutely sure you want to know?"

"Definitely!"

Clearly the pair didn't understand the severity of the situation, and Andy felt even more uncomfortable speaking with this to the children of Greek gods as opposed to Roman ones (personal preference, she supposed), well, it was their loss. She only hoped that their father wouldn't kill her for it.

"What do you know," she finally asked, "about the Olympians?"

"Olympians?" Bianca asked blankly as Andy jumped on top of the gaming machine, swinging her legs forward and backwards. "Like the athletes?"

"Eh?" Andy asked flummoxed. "No, I mean the Olympian Gods, you know, of Greece?" She bit back adding 'of Rome', it would be best to not get into that bit.

"You mean like Zeus, Artemis, Hades, those kinds of gods?" Nico asked, making Andy slam a hand over his mouth and look nervously downwards to the floor and then upwards to the sky.

"Don't speak their names so freely," she warned, "the power of names is an ancient one."

Bianca looked at her as though she had gone mad, but Andy was used to that kind of look.

"The gods are real, believe me, sometimes I wish they weren't," Andy muttered that last part to herself. "Sometimes they come down from Olympus, or wherever they spend their time these days, and they have children with mortals, and these children were known as demigods."

"Demigod?" Nico asked in confusion.

Andy sighed, and nodded. "I'm sure you must have at least heard of a few of them…like Helen of Sparta, Perseus, Heracles, the children of Zeus, or perhaps Orpheus, son of Morpheus and the Muse, Calliope."

"But those are just stories," Nico said, wondering why she was speaking like demigods were real, and still around.

"Even stories, legends even, have a basis of fact and truth," she told him gravely, and for a moment she seemed different, older. In the place of the eight year old child he saw a brown-eyed dark haired woman… _Andromeda_ , he realized, the original Andromeda, the one from the Greek legend. And then a very confused Andy was blinking and rubbing her eyes, moaning, "What happened?"

"I think you spaced out." Nico gave her a sheepish grin that made her blush.

"Right…Where was I? Never mind…" Andy rubbed her temple like she had a massive headache. "Anyways these children are still around, you're looking at one."

Twin brown eyes stared at her.

Andy contemplated mentioning her immortality, but they probably wouldn't believe that. Baby steps.

"Hello," she said waving her fingers at them.

"No," Bianca said, "no, you're not."

Andy arched an eyebrow before directing her eyes to the ground where frost and ice and sprung out of nothing, completely encasing Bianca's feet. She almost fell as she stumbled backwards, but the ice faded as quickly as it came.

"I'm pretty sure I am," Andy disagreed, "trust me, I know my father."

She spoke the word 'father' with such bitterness that Nico had to stare.

"Let me know when you think I'm not lying." Andy turned on her heel and evaporated into mist before Nico could say a word to call her back.

* * *

Andy's battered converses kicked at stray rocks as she came across them along the dirt road, muttering angrily to herself.

Andy sighed, tying back her long hair before thrusting her fists into her pants. The whistling of the wind and the mixture of that foreign scent on the air had Andy whipping her head around, her right hand tensing over the knife strapped to her thigh. She recognized that scent…Bianca and Nico reeked of it –not in a bad way, of course, but it was a very particular scent. It was danger, like 'hey you're in enemy territory, run for your life!' danger. Andy's pace quickened until she was running down the path, towards the pine tree in the distance. She stopped suddenly, skidding on the dirt road as she came face to face with the tall pillars that met with a horizontal block made of the same marble spelling out in Ancient Greek: Camp Half-Blood.

"Oh shit," Andy swore quietly, gaping at the sign. "Shit! Shit! Its _graecus_!" She could handle being near the Greeks at Hecate House, no problem, but there were Romans picked in with them, the same could not be said for this camp. She didn't respond well to Greek.

But her eyes were drawn away from the entrance to the pine tree that sat beside it. She raised an eyebrow. "Hello, human essence in nature form… never seen that before."

She placed a hand on the trunk and gasped, " _Santo Giove_! You're still alive!" (Holy Jupiter!)

 _*Who's there?*_ a ghostly voice asked and Andy spun around so fast that she gave herself whiplash.

"Who said that?" she demanded to the open air, pointing her Imperial Gold knife menacingly.

The voice gasped. _*You can hear me?*_

Andy was about to retort with a smart-alecky reply when she saw her. She was almost transparent and glowing blue. Her black hair was styled punk-like and freckles dotted her nose, in fact everything about her screamed punk –the hair, the piercings, the clothes, all of it. She was perched in the branches eyeing her with shockingly blue eyes.

Andy climbed into the tree, so she was sitting on the branch opposite the girl. "What's your name?"

The girl gasped and tears welled up in her eyes. "Did I say something wrong?" asked Andy in confusion.

She shook her head, clapping her hands together in glee, with a beaming smile that could outshine the stars. _*No one's been able to see or hear me for years!*_

"How awful!" Andy gasped. She would probably drive herself mad if she couldn't talk to anyone else…that is, if it hadn't already been done.

The girl nodded sadly. _*My name is Thalia, daughter of Zeus.*_

"Zeus? Like Jupiter?"

 _*Jupiter?*_ Thalia asked in confusion.

"Oops," Andy muttered, wincing slightly, "Jupiter is what the Romans called Zeus; I was just raised knowing the gods by their Roman names." It was a pretty truthful lie…in fact, she was quite certain that she wasn't lying at all.

 _*Ah.*_ Thalia nodded in understanding, though she didn't really understand. _*So, you're a demigod?*_

"I used to be, but I was granted immortality over a year and a half ago," Andy explained with a goofy face as she hung upside-down from a branch, "My name's Andy, Goddess of Ice, but people have been calling me Jack Frost, I'm the daughter of Neptune…er…Poseidon, I mean…so, I guess that kind of makes us cousins."

Thalia giggled as Andy made faces at her.

"What are you doing up in the tree, young demigod?" an aged voice inquired and Andy gazed down. It was a centaur.

"Ahh!" she yelped in shock, climbing higher into the pine, while Thalia watched her curiously.

She peeked through the foliage, finally getting a good look at them. The centaur was eyeing her like he was deciding what kind of seasoning would go best with female demigod and the girl –who must have been at least eleven– frowned at her like she couldn't decide if Andy was good news or bad news. Andy hoped she was bad news, she liked being bad news; for her bad news was good, when you were bad news you didn't feel the obligation to be good.

Andy grimaced at her new friend, looking like a girl who'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, but Thalia merely shrugged.

The child goddess pointed her staff –which had suddenly materialized in her grip–menacingly at the pair. "What I'm doing up here is none of your business, a better question is: Who are you?"

"Chiron, the trainer of heroes," the horse-man spoke politely, "And this is Annabeth, daughter of Athena."

"Oh!" Andy gave an outright laugh. "Sorry, I thought you were a _real_ centaur!" She was referring to that centaurs were born of Ixion and Nephele, and he was the son of Saturn and Philyra.

Annabeth stepped forward, anger lighting her grey eyes. "How dare y—"

But Chiron stopped her. "Not many know of my lineage," he called up to the tree in a voice that rang with caution, "why don't you come down so we can see you?"

"Who are you talking to?" Andy asked them in amusement from the ground.

Andy struck her staff into the earth and ice sprouted where the base had smashed into the ground. "I'm guessing you're looking for me." She cocked an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip, leaning slightly on her crooked crook.

"Yes," Chiron said slowly, she hadn't been trained by him, that was for sure, he would have known if he'd had a hero that looked like a Nereid, "What is your name, youngling?"

Andy threw the staff up in the air and caught it again, twirling it like a baton, a lazy smirk present on her lips. "My name is Andy, but I guess you can call me Jack Frost, Goddess of Ice."

* * *

Harry hummed in content, swinging his arm linked with his young aunt's.

"And we can go to the Underworld?" he asked in excitement. "And Atlantis? And—"

"Yes, yes," Andy said with an airy wave. She was less than pleased about having to take Harry down to her father's palace, but a promise was a promise. And Andy never went back on her promises, even if it took her into a domain she did not wish to enter into.

"Aunty? What's wrong?" Harry peered curiously up at her, squeezing her fingers slightly. Faintly, she wondered if his mother had been like his is now when she was a little girl. She blinked fervently, pushing aside those thoughts and tears before they could emerge.

Andy gave him a smile, but he could tell something he had said made her a little upset. "It's nothing," she assured him before changing the subject quickly, "we'll be going to the Underworld first, come along."

That brought the smile quickly back to his face once more, and he beamed as they walked through the streets of Los Angeles, California.

"Here we are."

Harry stared up at the building. "D…O…A…"

"Dead On Arrival."

The Underworld was not a lovely place, it was not heaven, but it was not hell either. The only good part, the only really nice part about the Underworld was Elysium, and the Isles of the Blest, oh that was a place she was looking forward to spending a lifetime in.

"What's Elysium?"

She must have spoken it out loud. Oops.

"You'll see," she said in a vague sort of voice as she swept him up into her arms and jumped. Harry was used to his aunty's shoes that could fly, and Aunt Mella's eternal complaints towards them, but…shouldn't they have just gone through the front door?

"Whoa!"

The Underworld was bigger than he had anticipated, and not as impressive, talk about it being a downer. It looked like airport security checks, very lame.

His aunt laughed when he mentioned it. "Don't worry," she said, "it might not look so impressive now, but just you wait, it gets better."

He'd have to take her word for it, and it was a good thing too, because once they got past Cerberus, everything got infinitely better, or maybe that was just the Thanatos (or Letus as his aunt called him, using the Roman name) blood in him talking. The Fields of Punishment were kind of crazy, but Andy said "don't do anything bad, and you won't end up there", and he had decided to follow that, because she sounded completely serious when she said it. The Fields of Asphodel looked really boring, so he could only hope that he didn't end up there, and Elysium looked amazing!

"But you won't need to worry about Elysium for quite some time," Andy assured him, "if you die young, I'll kill you?"

Harry wrinkled his forehead in confusion. "Huh?"

"Don't worry about it," Andy said dismissively. "Come on, there's someone who wants to meet you."

"Who?" Harry asked, his voice eager, his mind turning automatically to his dead parents, but she did not take him to Elysium where he was certain his parents now resided, unless they went on to be reincarnated, which was entirely possible.

"Someone who has watched your upbringing with great interest," she said cryptically as they weaved past spirits in the Asphodel Fields. "Ah, there he is."

Harry's breath caught in his throat at the sight of the one thing in the fields that wasn't a ghost. His first thought was: Angel. The man was certainly beautiful enough to be one (then he felt embarrassed because he thought he was beautiful and because he had first thought that his aunt was an angel).

"Who don't you go say hello?" Andy asked him lightly, her eyes twinkling as she nudged him in the direction of the being that must had been Thanatos (Letus, he mentally corrected himself).

He didn't really have much of a choice, and his legs felt like jelly, but he still moved forward.

Thanatos' eyes automatically met his and he couldn't resist gulping; his grandfather's presence was far more impressive than his aunt's.

And then the god smiled and he said his name with such affection that Harry almost cried. But he couldn't resist throwing his arms around his waist and holding on for dear life, not caring who was watching.

And he was still smiling not thirty minutes later, after their tour of Atlantis had concluded, with Andy flat out refusing to take him to meet his grandfather ("I can only handle so much of his presence, you know.") before they met up with Winter outside of the park they were going to be picnicking with Percy and her mother in.

"Are you sure I can come?" Winter asked for what was probably the thousandth time that day, and probably that week.

"Yes," Andy said with a sigh, "Mum said its fine."

Winter fell abruptly silent as they approached the pair.

"Is that them?" Harry asked feverishly, pointing at the woman and boy who were occupying a spread blanket. The woman was pretty in an older sort of way, in a motherly way. Her straight brown hair was nothing like her daughter's white curly locks (not including the blue that was obviously not natural), but the boy she was with had the same green eyes as her, and they brightened when he saw her.

"Andy!"

Andy hardly had any time to blink before he had raced to her side and thrown his arms over her shoulders, squeezing her as tightly as a nine year old could.

"Careful, _fratello (brother)_ ," Andy grunted, "I think you just broke a few bones."

"Sorry!" Percy apologized quickly. "Hi Winter!"

Winter blinked rapidly at the boy she had come to view rather fondly, at the boy who had a very serious case of ADHD. "Uh, hi."

"This is Harry Potter," Andy offered as she tugged her nephew forward, since he had retreated behind the safety of her back. "His mother was Lily Potter, she was father's oldest daughter."

Percy stared at her then at Harry. "Really?" he asked in awe. There couldn't have been much of an age difference between him, Andy, and Harry.

"Hello," Harry said shyly as Andy's mother came to meet them, the smile still on her face as Harry hid his face in Andy's side once more.

Sally smiled. "Oh, Percy, I remember when you were that shy."

"Mom!" Percy complained, blushing brightly as his sister and her friend laughed, and even his nephew (strange to think of having a nephew at nine) smiled.

As soon as Sally saw Harry, she laughed. "You two could be brother's!" she said. "You're practically identical!"

Percy and Harry looked at each other, as if trying to see how alike they looked, when they both shrugged identically, making the woman and the girls laugh.

"This is Harry," Andy introduced him again, this time to her mother, "Harry, this is my mum, Sally, but you can call her Gran."

Harry beamed and waved.

She waved back with a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Harry."

"Hello," he said quietly.

Winter's eyes shifted to Andy's and she winked. "Hey, Percy, how about you and me show Harry how to play Frisbee? Come on!"

She didn't give him much time to argue before dragging both boys towards the open space with a plain yellow Frisbee in hand.

For a moment, mother and daughter simply watched the three having fun and making fun.

"You worry about him, about Percy," Andy noted after a long silence had passed, "you worry a lot."

A pale flush adorned Sally's cheeks at the perceptiveness of her daughter.

"Percy's not a bad kid," she continued, "one day he'll be a great demigod." Her eyes were soft as she watched nephew and uncle fling the Frisbee back and forth. "Thank you," she added, "for letting Harry come, it's been all he can talk about."

Sally smiled at the bright grin that was pasted to the British-born legacy. "He seems like a sweet boy, he reminds me of his mother."

"I thought you didn't know Lily for long?" Andy said with a frown that made her look like her father.

"Not long," Sally admitted, "but long enough to know that she was a good person."

Andy's eyes met hers and she smiled, and even though it looked a trifle troublemaking, Sally couldn't help but be pleased at its appearance.

"Go, Andy," Sally said with a smile, "you're only a kid once. I'll set everything up."

And watching her daughter race away to snag the Frisbee out of the air before Winter could grab it, thus ensuing a battle of wills between the two girls that had the two boys in stitches, Sally Jackson couldn't help but think it was all worth it.


	7. Without Allies

The thunder clapped overhead, in rhythm with the lightning that sparked a violent blue-white across the sky, drowning the inhabitants of London in rain. Andy could feel the cold and the wet quite distinctly as she walked through the streets, her clothes soaked through and her hood clinging to her head. It was hardly past nine but Andy still found herself awake and out and about (disregarding that gods didn't really need sleep, and that most people didn't really go to sleep at nine) going to a meeting with a man she had originally sworn to distance herself from, or at least, a form of him.

She braced herself against the cold railing, not noticing how that water turned to ice under her hands. The river swayed with turbulence as if in response to the stormy sky.

"Andromeda."

She gritted her teeth slightly at the use of her full name. Hardly anyone used it anymore, including her mother, opting to refer to her as either Andy or A.J. (for Andy Jackson, since Rachel thought that was clever).

"Father," she said frigidly, "how may I be of service?"

Poseidon was far softer than Neptune ( _weaker_ , a spiteful part of her thought). His eyes were not battle-weary, and his complexion did not hold the same olive as Andy and Neptune. Still, Andy couldn't like him anymore that Neptune, because they were the same person really.

The god of the sea winced at the clipped and diplomatic tone she used when speaking to him. His Roman counterpart's treatment of his first female child (as Lily Evans had been Poseidon's) had been less than desirable, but there was little that could be done now. He could not redeem himself in her eyes, and he had a feeling it would be a very long time before she ever would trust him on an even miniscule level.

"I'm here about Perseus," he said slowly, approaching her so that he was close enough to be heard, but far enough that he wasn't in her space.

Andy's smile was cold. "Of course you are," she said, "after all, he's your favorite, isn't he?"

Poseidon grimaced slightly at her wording. Clearly the resentment still remained, but that was expected. He would have almost thought her a child of Hades with the grudge-holding she was doing. "Your brother is in danger," he said, skating over her words, " _please."_

She frowned, her eyebrows creasing together, but this time she listened. "And what kind of trouble is Percy in?" She asked this despite knowing that Zeus blamed either her or her brother for his missing lightning bolt.

"Your mother and I tried to keep his existence a secret for as long as possible," he said finally, "with you it was out of the question, because your uncle already knew of your birth courtesy of Asteria."

Andy's eyebrow twitched at the mention of the titan who had convinced Jupiter to give her life, the titan that she had never met.

"Percy should be safe until the end of term," she said finally, "unless your brothers jump the gun, so to speak, when he returns, I will keep an eye on him."

"Thank you."

She glared at him, jutting her chin out in defiance. "I'm not doing this for you," she said hotly, "and I would have done it anyways, because I love Percy more than I hate you."

"How about more than you love Nico di Angelo?" Poseidon couldn't resist asking.

Andy went positively white at the mention of the boy and she reached towards her waist for the hilt of Harpe. "How," she said, her voice dangerously low, "do you know about him?" She had been beyond careful about anyone even knowing about the di Angelos. The only ones who had actually met them and knew their names were Carmella and Winter (Carmella was the one who taught Bianca how to handle a bow), no one else had even heard her utter their names, or their true names anyways.

"I have known about Hades children for a very long time," Poseidon said with a weary voice, "I remember well the day when Hades stormed Olympus after Zeus had made an attempt on their lives and only managed to kill their mother."

Andy gritted her teeth slightly. How _dare—!_ This was why she preferred Jupiter over his Greek counterpart. Mostly because Zeus was a bit of a bastard.

"I am not as cruel-hearted as I seem, Andy," he continued, "perhaps one day, you will see that too."

Andy doubted that, but she didn't have time to spit insults at her before he evaporated into a fine mist, not unlike she did when she was a demigod (though hers had always been a bit painful), though now, as a goddess, she shattered herself into ice fragments instead.

Growling under her breath, she turned and strode back towards one of her estates, Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. She didn't normally come and visit the place of her childhood (on the rare moments she had lived there), but as an underage heiress, there were certain papers that she had to fill out every year for Gringotts, so as to make sure that none unsavory relatives (or non-relatives for that matter) gained control of any of her vaults. It was irritating work, but Andy didn't mind it too badly.

However, Andy had to stop shortly after as a girl came barreling out of an alley to roll to a stop in front of Andy who raised an eyebrow slightly.

The girl was as wet as Andy, her black hair clinging to her face, and her brown eyes wide and startled. She didn't seem too damaged…a few scratches here and there, and then Andy glanced in the direction that she had come from.

"A manticore, and you're weaponless…not a really good idea."

Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter, grimaced as she looked up and stared. "Who're you?"

The hooded girl grinned slightly. "That's for me to know and you to figure out…but right now I'm the girl who's saving your ass."

She held out a small golden knife in her hand, showing it to Katie for a brief second before throwing it with precision at the Manticore which gave a cry of rage and pain before exploding into a pile of golden dusk.

"Just a hint," she said, entering the alley to pick up the knife and walk back out to point the knife at Katie who goggled at her, "always go for the throat." She flipped the small blade around to hold it out to her. "Take it; you need it more than me."

"But," Katie spluttered, "won't you need it?"

The mysterious girl gave a bark-like laugh at that. "Believe me, I carry around more weapons on me than a paranoid ex-soldier…do you need a lift to your inn?"

Katie looked down at herself and shivered with cold. She must look a bit horrible.

"That would be nice," she said weakly, "thank you…?"

"Jack Frost," she supplied, holding out her hand to shake.

Katie's jaw unhinged and she stared at her, looking her up and down. "Seriously?" The child goddess who was granted immortality at the age of seven?

She smiled slightly. "Yes, and I assume you must be one of Demeter's offspring, then? You smell of the earth."

Katie wasn't sure if she should take that as a compliment or an insult.

"My name is Katie Gardner."

Jack Frost's sea-green eyes filled with thinly veiled amusement. "Gardner…" she shook her head, "The irony."

Katie tried not to get annoyed; the Stoll brothers grated her nerves enough as it was with their jokes about her last name, and they didn't even get defensive about the fact that their last name was 'Stoll' (as in 'stole', like their father, Hermes, god of thievery). Then again, Jack Frost wasn't really insulting her, she was just admitting how peculiar it was that the goddess of agriculture had a daughter with the last name 'Gardner.'

"You have a stout heart," she said diplomatically. "Not many would take on a Manticore without a weapon."

"Um…thank you," she repeated.

The goddess shrugged her thin shoulders. "Follow this road," she said pointing north, "I believe you should be able to find the main road at the intersection, from there you can get cab."

"Thank—" Katie blinked slightly in surprise, because the girl had vanished, leaving her alone in the heavenly downpour.

* * *

Percy Jackson had lost hope when he called home to get no answer. Students at Yancy were only allowed one phone call each month, and every time he tried to call his mother, she was always at work, so, in a latch ditch effort, he dialed that number that Andy had had him memorize.

The phone rang for a moment, and then— " _Ciao (Hello)_."

Percy knew a few select phrases in Italian, but nothing to Andy's level (why on earth had she been required to learn a foreign language in the first place, Percy would have _died_!), or even Harry's, and he wasn't even going to count Carmella, she was practically a second Andy.

"Hey, Andy," he said with a grin.

"Percy!" she said in obvious surprise. "Are you calling from Yancy?"

"Yeah," he said, "are you at that boarding school of yours?"

On the opposite end of the phone-line, Andy looked around Hecate House. That was the cover she used for living there, but she did attend Manhattan's Academy for Magic with Carmella (Callie and Marlene were so jealous!). "Yeah, we've got a free day – _hey!"_ She yelled over to a pair of demigods that had decided to duel it out in the middle of the hallway. "What did we say? Keep the dueling _in_ the arena!"

"Yes, Jack," they both intoned.

"Don't you 'yes, Jack' me," she admonished, pointing towards the arena. "Try not to take anyone's head off on the way back!"

Both boys grumbled in annoyance, but they did as she asked.

"Sorry about that," she added into the phone, "some of the kids are a bit into…fencing."

"Just your type of kids, then?" Percy joked. He knew well of that rebellious streak his sister had, though hers whether it came out in sarcastic remarks (like him) or physical violence (she had a mean right hook). Callie said she was way worse when she was younger and had been incredibly volatile. Something had happened to her, that much Percy knew, something that none of them were sharing.

"Eh," Andy said, in a voice that said "maybe", "they're alright…want to talk to Harry? He's standing right here."

She grinned down at the seven year old black-haired legacy of Letus (or Thanatos, but Harry definitely had some Roman blood in him, so Letus it was) who was tugging on her arm and grinning like the cat that had gotten the canary.

And before he could say "Sure," she had thrust the phone to the smaller boy and walked (or stalked) towards where Marlene was standing with a canted eyebrow.

"Hi, Uncle Percy," Harry said brightly, "Aunty says you'll be home in a few weeks!"

"Yeah, kid, I'll be there," Percy promised. It always felt a little strange when he talked to his nephew, mostly because he was only four years older than the boy, but Andy had never really had that problem. Harry was more like a little brother than a nephew. "Been keeping out of trouble?"

"Sorta," Harry said, his eyes moving towards his aunt. She was talking with her hands, which wasn't unusual for her, but looked caught between angry, annoyed, and embarrassed. "Aunty's fighting with Aunt Lene," he said bluntly.

"Really?" Percy said in surprise. He had never heard of Andy fighting with anyone within her close circle of friends. "What about?"

"I think it's a boy," Harry said, screwing up his face slightly, "one of Aunty's friends, I think…I think she likes him a lot, but she won't talk about it."

Percy felt a flicker of jealous rising inside of him, but he squelched it quickly. "So why is she fighting with Marlene?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders, forgetting that his young uncle couldn't see the action. "Aunt Lene thinks she doesn't really understand what love really is. She says that she hasn't been exposed too much of it, so she doesn't understand her feelings."

Percy grimaced slightly. He had heard the tales concerning his sister's upbringing, and he wasn't entirely sure if some of them were the truth or not. "What does Andy think?"

"I dunno," Harry said, "Aunty's not real talkative, remember?"

A smile twitched Percy's lips. "I remember," he promised.

"Gran said all five of us are gunna do something once you get home," Harry added.

"Five?" Percy asked with a grimace, almost afraid to ask if Smelly Gabe (his and Andy's step-father) was included.

"Gran thinks Winter should come along because she's been sick for awhile and needs to get outside," Harry said in a distant voice as if trying to recall exactly what his grandmother had said the last time they had seen each other.

"Winter's been sick?" Percy asked in surprise. Winter Snow was practically a cousin to him, not as close as Andy (but Andy was always a bit distant), but far more friendly. "With what?"

"I dunno," Harry said with a mournful sigh, "no one tells me anything…but Winter and a couple of other kids here are starting to get really bad nightmares every night, and no one knows why."

Percy frowned slightly. "Is that something magical?" Of course, he and his mother knew about magic, being related to Andy made one accept that as the truth even before a demonstration.

"Aunty thinks so," Harry said, glancing over to where she was standing by herself now, running a hand through her white-and-blue loose curls with a look of intense concentration on her face. "She hasn't found anything yet, but she will," Harry said with certainty, "Aunty's a goddess."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Right, sure kid." Harry, that kid, him and his joking attitude…

"How many more weeks until you get out of Yancy?" Harry asked, drawing Percy's attention away from his earlier comment after mentally hitting himself in the head for accidentally mentioning his aunt's immortality.

"Just three," he said in relief. "Don't worry, we'll be seeing each other real soon."

"Okay," Harry said in such a cheerful voice that Percy could almost imagine his smile. "Aunty says we're going to go and help clean the Hudson tomorrow. She said some Yancy kids are coming; are you?"

Percy almost groaned. His conduct and grades were deemed too bad for him to go down with Grover, much to his eternal disappointment. "Sorry, Harry. I clashed with the school too much."

"Aw, man!" Harry complained.

* * *

"How's Yancy?" asked Andy in amusement as she tried to hold back her laughter at the satyr in front of her. Grover Underwood's intentions were honorable; he had volunteered to help Andy in picking up litter at the coast of the Hudson, but unfortunately the sand caused him to have difficult footholds, sending the poor satyr sprawling into the river.

 _"Blaa-ha-ha_!" the satyr complained, "Your brother has a knack for getting into trouble!"

"Well, he wouldn't be Percy if he didn't," Andy said easily, bending to pick up a crushed can, throwing it into one of the two bags in her other hand.

"Have the gods been giving you any problems?" asked Grover, crumpling up an old newspaper and tossing it into her second bag.

She sighed tiredly. "A bit, but then I was an automatic suspect, you know, because Poseidon is being blamed. I'm sticking to the ground, until things cool down, anyhow."

"Probably wise," he said, looking up at the sky which had begun to rumble ominously, the clouds darkening.

"Why don't you go by the coast?" Andy suggested, "It'll probably to easier to stand in."

The satyr grabbed a garbage bag and moved with difficulty towards the bank of the river to join a couple of the Demeter kids that she'd recruited. She wasn't a fan of her father's domain, but the thought of actually littering into any water body made her want to strangle something…or turn someone into an ice sculpture.

"Your friends are worried about you, Andromeda."

Andy's eyes widened at the all too familiar growling voice that she had always associated with the word "Mother". She turned in the water to stare into the shrewd golden eyes of the goddess Lupa.

Lupa grinned widely, a grin that could almost be considered a baring of teeth, with how sharp her canines were. Andy was surprised to see her in her human form…she almost preferred her in wolf form. Her face, as always, wore that severe expression that she had to admit was rather identical to the expression Walburga Black had constantly worn in her life, and her skin was marred by scars, but in Andy's mind that had always made her far more beautiful than anyone she had ever met. Her hair was thick and silver, hanging loose over one shoulder. Her lips curled. "What? No love for the woman that raised you?"

This time Andy smiled, giving a low and overly done bow to the woman who had never demanded her respect but earned it all the same. And then she sprung forward to grip her shoulders tightly for a moment, but then she had to release her and duck as the human she-wolf tried to brain her.

She couldn't restrain a laugh at that. "You never change, Lupa."

"I should hope not," the goddess grumbled, "or else none of my charges shall take me seriously!"

Andy's smile stretched into a wide grin, but then it faded a little. "I do appreciate your visits, Lupa, but is there a specific reason for it?"

Her gold eyes glittered in the sunlight as she surveyed the one who had possibly learned the most from her. "Yes, I believe there is."

"Anyone's death that's being blamed on me?" she asked with a slight quirk of her eyebrow.

Lupa smirked. "Not yet…is there anything you want to tell me about, Andy?"

"Not particularly," the youngest goddess said, "so, why are you here?" She bent down suddenly to snag a wet brown bag from the surf, almost forgetting that that was what she should have been doing all along.

"Your friends are worried about you," Lupa noted, making Andy tense briefly.

"They should be more worried about Winter," Andy scoffed lightly, "she's the one who always looks like she's about ready to pass out." This was true. Winter's skin had already been quite fair to begin with, but now it was the absolute color of snow, true to the last name she shared with Andy.

"Perhaps," Lupa said calmly, "but even Winter is worried about you."

"Winter's always worried about something," Andy said with a groan as she grabbed a crumpled soda can. "She wouldn't be Winter if she wasn't worrying about something."

Lupa eyed her protégée with a critical eye. "Your friends are concerned about your lack of ability to love."

Andy's eyes flashed up to meet hers and then she scowled. "I can love just fine, thank you very much. I love Percy, and Mum, and Harry, and all my friends-"

"You fear romantic love because of what you have been told about children born with too many gifts," Lupa said sagely.

_"There are children like you, Andy," Asteria said solemnly, "ones born with too many gifts. Some have their lives bound to objects, some have their lives cut short by the Fates, and some, some are cursed to love Death himself. Even immortality cannot save you from that fate."_

Her teeth gritted slightly. "I know which fate is mine, Lupa," she said in a chilly voice, "but I will not lower myself to committing suicide in the face of the death of my lover." There had been countless accounts of demigods who had done the same after their significant other had been killed, and that made Andy even more determined to not share their fate.

"You are immortal, or have you forgotten?" Lupa asked in a reprimanding voice. "You cannot die."

Andy scoffed. "You wouldn't understand."

"It seems I wouldn't," she said in a remarkably cool voice, "or so you believe…Not all of those stories end in tragedies."

"We are the children of two of the eldest and most powerful gods," Andy refuted, "it would for us."

"You are eleven," she said, "I cannot expect you to understand the complexities of love at such an age, but you cannot presume to know the future either…even I can see that Nico di Angelo makes you better."

"Softer you mean," Andy grumbled, tying her bags, "weaker."

"Less murderous," Lupa corrected, "more patient, gentler. All of these things you can be, all of these things you never were before."

Andy couldn't say anything to that.

"Demigods do not live as long as mortals do, Andy," Lupa warned, "just be aware of the time you are wasting."

"I'm eleven," she hissed angrily.

"And currently in a battle with your own heart," Lupa shot back, reaching forward to touch a clawed finger to Andy's temple, "besides, your mind and soul are much older than your body, much like your love."

"He is _not_ —"

"You are without allies, daughter of Neptune," she warned, "it would pay to keep the ones that you can trust close to you."

Andy couldn't restrain the very low growl that echoed from her throat, making her smirk. "And how exactly does that help me with my…personal issue?"

"Oh, it doesn't," Lupa grinned, "but it might pay to know who you both were in the past." She waved her hand and the surface of the water before Andy rippled before showing her an image that must have been centuries prior judging by the togas and stolas being worn by the men and women at the party.

The king and queen seemed a bit tipsy, but the young woman next to them was the opposite. She must have been their daughter, the princess, judging by the silver tiara and the elegant feminine toga that she wore that was clearly expensive. Her elbow was on the table, her hand holding up her cheek, her brown eyes gazing around the hall with boredom. She ate a small morsel from her plate, before finally pushing away the food she'd barely eaten. And then her eyes gaining a subtle light as she gazed into the mass of partygoers. Andy was allowed to follow her gaze, just in time to see the flutter of a toga disappear outside.

"Mother, Father," the young woman said, turning to her slightly intoxicated parents, "May I take your leave? I fear I have eaten some badly cooked meat."

"Of course, Andromeda," her mother simpered, patting her daughter's hand lovingly. "Please, rest yourself."

Andy choked at the use of her name. "Andromeda?" The appearance of the later Queen of Mycenae shared similar aspects with herself; the bored expression was identical, as was the smile (when she wasn't trying to be cocky or sarcastic). The princess left swiftly, but the image followed her without too many problems before catching up with her outside of a balcony, but she wasn't alone.

The man had blonde hair and light eyes (remarkably like Jason, she noticed) and was watching her through half-lidded eyes (so as not to seem as though he was watching…Andy had seen Nico do that too), leaning casually against the stone, while she sat upon it, opposite of the man. Andromeda didn't look at the stranger, keeping her eyes to the heavens, even when he spoke.

"Merope is bright tonight," he commented mildly, referring the star named after Merope, a daughter of Atlas and Pleione who married a mortal; she was a star very difficult to see in the night sky and was often called the 'lost star.'

"So it seems," she agreed, "perhaps you are about to lose something, Perseus, my King."

Lupa flashed a hand through the image, causing it to fizzle out as Andy gaped at the space the two had just occupied, her mouth moving wordlessly.

Lupa barked out a laugh. "I think that is the first time I've ever made you speechless; I will commit it to memory."

Andy just wanted to hide her burning face in a way that wouldn't be quite so obvious, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.


	8. A Traitor Unseen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Concerning Nico and Andy's relationship: Their relationship will be a bit on the backburner so to speak. You will hear it referenced often and Andy contemplate it an awful lot, but into won't come a bit more to light until the third book in the series. Besides, they are very young for anything much at eleven and twelve, but this was the way I originally wrote it out, and this is how it will stay.

Nico watched her from a bit away. It wouldn't be such a good idea to interrupt her right now, she didn't respond very well to interruptions, even if it was pretty dangerous for her to be sitting like that on the banister. The last time he had tried to interrupt her, he had ended up with a sword to his throat. She was cleaning her sword, so that made it doubly more terrifying.

Andy was very much lost in her thoughts, still reeling from the chat that she'd had with Lupa weeks ago. Her? _The_ Andromeda of Mycenae? That hardly seemed possible, but she'd had those dreams since she was young, and those had to be real. But Calliope Evans had told her much the same years ago…somehow she believed it a bit more when it was coming from Lupa.

She wiped the rag across the bronze surface of her blade, the light glinting off it and showing her the grinning image of Perseus before fading abruptly, instead reflecting Nico a few feet away from her, leaning against the wall and shuffling his cards with his hands.

When she realized she was staring, she shook her head quickly, her cheeks a bright red. "You're an idiot," she told herself, "he's Greek, it would never work. I'm already living enough of a lie with Percy."

But the real question was: Was he worth it?

She twisted around slightly and caught him staring, but he quickly looked away with cheeks brighter than hers had been moments ago. She turned back around quickly, hiding the pleased grin, noting Nico in the reflection of the blade once more.

And then her smile faded a bit. It wasn't right of her to be like this, or be around him. Zeus had eyes on her at all times, and if he found out about the di Angelo siblings…Andy didn't like the ending she had envisioned. She glanced back at his reflection and sighed.

Nico hadn't changed at all in the time that she had known him. He still had that bright infectious grin, and his hair was still that perpetual mess that it would always be. It was like time didn't affect him at all.

Time…time always made her think of Saturn, and it didn't give her a good feeling. It felt as though someone was constantly at her back, checking to see when she wasn't looking. Jupiter didn't believe he was as much of a threat as Andy did, but he should have, because Andy could sense a storm brewing, and she could remember the dark laughter that had plagued her as a child. Call it woman's intuition, but the theft of Jupiter's lightning bolt was just the beginning, you didn't need a seer to tell you that.

"I've got to run back home," Andy said in an apologetic manner as Nico finally worked up the courage to go over to stand beside her, praying that she wouldn't threaten him with Harpe again (he didn't think that sword of hers liked him much). "Things to do, minions to coerce, friends to spar with."

Nico grinned genuinely this time, going so far as to bump his shoulder against hers. "I'm the younger sibling, remember? I do everything wrong, Bianca makes all the plans."

Andy laughed, but it sounded oddly like a bark. "You're talking to a younger sibling, Nico, I just happen to be the responsible one, you should try it."

"You're probably the most responsible eleven year old I've ever met."

The smile that twisted her mouth was one of bitterness, but Nico couldn't figure out why.

"It's not always a good thing," she mumbled, speaking more to herself, and then, almost impulsively, she leaned over to brush her lips to the hollow of his cheek in a kiss that barely touched. "I don't know when I'll be back again, but take care of yourself and Bianca, alright?"

Before she could disappear, Nico reached out a hand to snag her arm.

"What is it?" she asked, her voice tinged with worry. "What's wrong?"

"If I ask you something, will you tell me the truth?"

Andy blinked and looked up at him, despite there being only a slight difference in their heights, surprise coloring her eyes. That was a weighted question, one Andy wasn't sure she could answer.

"I—" she started to say before falling abruptly silent.

"Are you scared of me?"

Andy stared. Of all the questions that he could have posed, that was one that she was not expecting. "No," she said with surety, "you don't frighten me."

"You're sure?" Relief colored his deep brown eyes and she couldn't resist smiling.

"I'm sure," she said, "trust me, very few things scare me, and you're not one of them." But somehow it felt a bit like a lie coming off her lips.

And before Nico could say anything more, she had vanished into thin air.

"I hate it when she does that!" he grumbled.

That night, Andy did not sleep well, which was a bit surprising, being a goddess (though a very minor goddess) and all, but the dream scared her too much for her to ever question whether or not she should have actually been capable of having it in the first place.

She couldn't breathe. The acid she was submerged in was burning away at her flesh and bones. She wished she could die, if only that it could spare her from this torturous agony. Angry voices were garbled like she was underwater, someone was screaming her name and then she suddenly there was new air in her lungs; she could _breathe_.

With a strangled noise, Andy threw back the covers of her bed and sat up, cupping her face in her hands and breathing in and out heavily as if she had just run a mile. The fear still clenched around her heart like an iron fist.

A shiver went down her spine, as if there was something in the room with her, so she leaned over to snatch her wand from the bedside table. Her wand, like all demigod witches and wizards was untraceable due to those demigods often having to resort to using their magic just to stay alive It would be detrimental if they were always stopped, fined, or threatened for using their magic.

" _Lumos!_ " She held it aloft, searching for some sort of sign, but there was nothing. With a muttered incantation, she canceled the spell.

"I'm just overreacting," she said to herself as she blindly searched for the handle of the door before making her way slowly downstairs. The couches and chairs before the fireplace on the main floor were almost completely empty except for two people. Winter, who was curled up on a corner cushion with a thick afghan wrapped around her shoulders, shivering as if she had been pushed out into a cold winter night wearing nothing but that. The other was a small boy who was sitting before the fire with his hands outstretched towards the warmth. To anyone else, it would have looked as though he was trying to get warm, but Andy knew better; he was making the fire stronger.

Andy pulled a spare blanket from the chair closest to her and threw it over her friend, adding to the protection from whatever cold there was.

"Peleus," she said, directing her attention to the boy, "you get to bed, I'll keep an eye on everything."

He turned to her, his eyes a gentle brown in which she could see the flames flickering, and his hair a mesh of reds and oranges, not unlike the fire itself. His eyes glanced to where Winter was slumbering.

"Will you find who did this to her?" he asked suddenly.

Andy would have liked nothing more than to say yes, but— "I don't know," she said tiredly, "I really don't know."

Peleus frowned lightly.

"Go to sleep," she added. _"I_ will tend to the fire."

The boy opened his mouth to protest, but when he looked at her face and he decided it was best to say nothing. Finally he nodded and curled up on the armchair, immediately falling asleep. Andy's lips twitched slightly at the boy's reluctance to leave, but she eventually chalked it up to him being more worried about Winter than anything else. A number of the occupants of Hecate House were worried about the weakness and fragility Winter's body.

Andy curled herself up on the couch with her eyes on the fire until her eyelids began to droop...

The pit before her was deep and dark as night, as if the shadows themselves emanated from the evils within the chasm, before Andy even knew it herself, she was walking towards the ledge.  
 _~Ah, little granddaughter,~_ a voice crooned, echoing through the darkness _,~ the little goddess...but powerful...a powerful demigod, a worthy choice. Help me rise little Frost, and I shall make you my queen, help me rise and I shall give you powers the gods only dream of!~_

The shadowy creatures weaved around her, in an almost seductive manner. Andy blinked blearily, before she fell over the ledge.

The next morning she woke up gasping, still feeling the lull of the void that was Tartarus and the feel of the shadows seeking to overwhelm her.

* * *

"So, how was Yancy?" Andy asked with a grin as she helped her brother load the luggage into the back of the car.

"Eh." Percy said, waving his hand in a "whatever" manner. "It was okay, how about your magic school?"

Andy grinned that sarcastic grin that always spelled trouble. "Don't worry, I only almost got expelled five times."

Percy whistled lowly. "Impressive."

She laughed. "You aren't the only one to think that."

Nico had been more humored by the fact that she hadn't managed to get expelled. She smiled at the memory of how he had been bent double, laughing at her efforts to be expelled (Manhattan's Academy of Magic wasn't really her scene).

"I've never seen you smile like that," Percy mentioned, straining to keep his voice mild.

"There's a lot that you don't know about me," she said mysteriously, though her cheeks did pink slightly. "I'm a girl of many secrets."

"Obviously," he said dryly. "Do you ever share anything with anyone?"

Andy didn't answer him for a moment as she fitted her duffle into the car, her smile fading a little. "Some things are better left buried, Percy."

Percy couldn't tell if she was talking about her secrets or her past. "Um…so…how's Winter?"

Andy glanced back to the apartment, a contemplative look overtaking her features. "She's better," she admitted, "better than last week, but not by much."

"Did she have some kind of bug?" he asked as their mother came down the stairs with a bright smile.

"Something like that," Andy said in a vague voice before raising it, "Come on Harry, Winter!"

She smirked, clapping her brother on the shoulder. "I've got shotgun."

She laughed as Percy complained loudly, the complaints only lessening to mumbles once they were on the road, much to Andy's amusement. The car ride was spent mostly in relative silence, until Andy broke it by speaking to her friend.

"Winter, are you ever going to tell me what you've been hacking and researching?"

Winter's dark eyes glanced up from her laptop, which Andy didn't even want to know what she had to do to get it, and she grinned. "That's a secret. You have yours, I have mine."

Andy bared a grin before twisting around in the front seat to face the road once more.

"Any secrets I need to worry about?" her mother asked mildly from behind the wheel, glancing to her daughter where she was sitting with her thumbs moving across the keyboard of her phone.

"Not presently," Andy said, glancing back through the mirror into the backseat. "Having fun yet, Percy?"

Her older brother scowled at her from the middle seat where Harry was leaning his head against his shoulder as he slept while Winter elbowed him in the gut constantly with her typing.

"Next time, you're sitting in the back," he told her, his eyebrow twitching just enough to earn a brighter grin than before.

"Keep telling yourself that," she said as the phone buzzed again, forcing her to hit ignore again.

"You and Angel-Boy having problems?" Winter piped up from the back, making Andy sigh from the front seat.

"Really?" she demanded, turning around so that she could look the brown eyed girl straight in the face. "We're going to do this now?"

"I think you're less likely to jump out of the car," Winter said with a smirk, "so yeah."

Andy rolled her eyes, shoving the phone into her pocket. "We are not having problems," she said finally, "I just don't want to talk to him."

"Right," Winter drawled. "He's _so_ thinking about kissing you."

Sally arched an eyebrow in surprise and amusement as she glanced towards her daughter, grinning when she saw how red her cheeks had turned. "Wow," she whistled lowly, "a boy who can make you blush that hard must be something."

"Mum!" Andy complained.

* * *

Nico was a little surprised to see her back so soon, but he couldn't help but be secretly pleased at the sight of her leaning against one of the balconies of the casino.

"Did you miss me?"

She looked up a little startled before a laugh burst from her lips. "Is that the only reason I would come back?" she asked with a smirk playing across her lips.

"Pretty much, yeah," Nico agreed, his eyes lighting up as he grinned. "So, what're you doing up so late?"

"I have an active mind," Andy said, rolling her eyes towards him, "my family hasn't realized I'm gone." She bit her lip, something Nico had never seen her do before.

"What's wrong?"

"Why does something have to be wrong?" Andy said, very aware of how close they were standing.

Nico gave her a surprisingly serious look. "Please," he said in a drawl, "you never drop by when you can be with your family, remember?"

She couldn't resist pursing her lips slightly at his words. "I was thinking about you," she blurted out, her cheeks flushing red even as she said it.

Much to her surprise, a pleased blush and grin appeared on his face. "Really?"

She bit her lip again. "I should actually be staying away from you," she admitted, more to herself than to him. "You'd probably be safer-"

"You're babbling," Nico noticed, with a small smirk. It's very presence on his lips made her heart beat accelerate, which was ridiculous in her opinion. "I've never seen you like this."

"Yeah, well, you have that affect on people," Andy said lamely.

"On people?" he asked with an arched eyebrow making her cheeks pink.

"Oh, shut up," she muttered. "Don't get your head all inflated."

Her blood quickened in her veins as he lifted her chin with his thumb. She blinked, and in an instant Nico was replaced by the image a blonde-haired blue-eyed young man ( _Perseus_ , her memory whispered), but the image faded as quickly as it had come.

"Look in the mirror," he said with a smirk.

"I am not big-headed," Andy said with a scowl before finding it very difficult to think as Nico's lips brushed softly against hers, making her feel electrically charged that had nothing to do with the lightning bolt that resided inside of her.

She eyes fluttered open as he released her.

"I," she cleared her throat awkwardly, "I was not expecting that."

Nico winced. "Bad?"

Andy's fingers twisted around the dark silver ring that had been a gift to her. "Not at all," she said, her cheeks still pink, "in fact—" But the words escaped her as she looked past him to something beyond, her breath catching.

"What is it?" Nico whirled around to see what she saw. An older teenage girl clutching a black knife in one loose grip while holding an arm to her bloodied side.

"Calliope," Andy said in shocked realization, rushing to her side to catch her just before her legs gave out. "Calliope!"

"Andy," the only demi-titan in existence, the only mortal daughter of Asteria, spoke in a choked rasp. Andy had only met Calliope once in her life, the day she had saved her life, and since then, she had claimed that she owed her life to the child goddess. But it seemed that she had paid for with her own. "I-I'm so-sorry—"

"Don't speak," Andy all but ordered, pulling the jacket fabric gently away from her side, barely acknowledging Nico as her knelt beside her in horror.

"I-Its bad, is-isnt it?" she gasped out.

Andy found her throat a bit clogged as she inspected the deep wound to her side. It was bad, much worse than she would like to admit. The blade must have nicked an artery, and she had been bleeding for quite some time now. If she was allowed to, Andy could have healed her in a second, but she was bound from doing so.

"I'm sorry," she said somberly, "it is beyond my power."

"Knew i-it," Calliope rasped, her grip tightening over her pitch black knife.

"Who did this to you?" Andy demanded, keeping her hands pressed against the wound in a feeble effort to staunch the blood. "Tell me, I must know." ( _The traitor_ , her mind whispered).

Calliope's arm trembled with strain as she raised a bloody hand to make a red trail down her cheek. "Graecus…wants…war," she gasped, "da-danger…fate…kill…protect…"

Andy bit down hard on her lip. She might not have known Calliope well, but any death was always a sad one. "Stop," she said, trying to give her a smile, but failing rather terribly, "I'll take care of it…just-"

"Th-thank yo-you," Calliope rasped with a smile on her bloodstained lips, holding out the black dagger to her, "you are go-ood, they will s-see."

Andy squeezed her hand tightly, giving her a blinding smile. "And you will be granted Elysium, I will see to it," she promised.

Calliope gave one last shuddering breath before her eyes glazed over, dimming as death took her.

"Andy?"

She could hardly hear Nico's concerned voice over the hammering of her blood in her veins.

* * *

Grover had almost reached the door to Percy's cabin in Montauk when a hand grabbed him an wrenched him inside by his shirt, slamming him against the table with a knife to his throat in several seconds flat.

Grover's eyes went slit eyed in terror, even before he smelled the blood on their skin. It was fresh.

Someone fumbled with the switch before the cabin was flooded with light, and Grover went stark white. Andy was the one holding the knife to his throat, her face fierce and angry, not unlike a wolf's.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you?" she demanded in a frigid voice. Her anger had overtaken her in light of Calliope's demise.

" _Andy!"_ Winter said in a dumbfounded voice. "What are you doing?!"

Andy scowled further, but she released the startled satyr, making his furry legs collapse under him and he heaved in gasping breaths. Percy goggled, staring at his friend's legs as if he'd never seen anything like them before. "Grov—"

"Not _now_ , Percy!" Andy snapped, glaring down at Grover. "Who followed you? You've led them straight to him!"

Grover stuttered out a number of incoherent words, but Andy's eyes sought out her mother's instead, seeing the fear reflected there.

"We need to leave," she said shortly, "now. Grab your things."

"There's no way we'll all fit," Winter complained as they all hastily moved around to grab what little they had brought with them, slamming it into the trunk of the car. But they did, and faster than Percy would have thought possible, his mother was speeding down the road.

"Urm ... what are you, exactly?" He finally had the courage to ask his friend.

"That doesn't matter right now." Grover was watching the back of his sister's head nervously. That was understandable, she was still holding that sword of hers that Percy had never seen before, and Andy without a sword was scary enough. With the sword she was downright terrifying.

"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey-"

"He's a faun," Harry interjected from where he was squashed against the window, shattering his long held silence.

" _What?"_

"Half goat, half man," Winter said, watching Andy as well, but hers was out of concern. Andy was teetering on the edge of her control.

"Satyr!" Grover bleated. "I'm a satyr, fauns are Roman!"

"They don't have much of a point," Winter said agreeably, earning her a glare, but she ignored him, speaking only to Andy. "Andy? Did something happen?"

For a long moment, Andy did not speak, making Percy think she wasn't listening, until she finally uttered four words: "Calliope Evans is dead." Percy had never heard the name, but the way Andy said it, it must have meant something.

" _What?!"_ Winter gasped, her pale face turning a sickly shade of grey as the color faded from Harry's face as well. He had heard about the girl connected to the name, but death still saddened him, despite who he was descended from. "But that—"

"I know," Andy all but snarled. "Where did you think all the blood I'm wearing came from?"

"Who is Calliope Evans?" Percy asked in complete confusion.

"The only mortal child of Titan blood in existence," Andy said coldly, her eyes meeting his in the rear-view mirror, "the daughter of Milady Asteria of the Stars and Dark Prophecy." There were only two people, two immortals that Andy held in such reverence and respect. One was Jupiter, the other was Asteria. And though she did not necessarily approve of the Titan, she did owe her a great deal.

"You're insane," Percy decided, gaping at her in shock, missing the flicker of dark emotion in her fractured green eyes.

"Not quite," she said, the words forced, "seeing as you are sitting next to a daughter of Chione, a descendent of Letus (or Thanatos, I suppose), and a satyr, now GET DOWN!"

The four squashed in the back seat did as they were told as Andy twisted her head around, and Percy was surprised to see them glowing with electricity. The lightning shot from her eyes and blowing out the rear window.

"Holy Hades!" Harry gazed at his aunt in awe. "When could you do that?"

She gave him a tired smile. "Just now."

"Percy," their mother said, her voice strained, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."

"Safety from what?" Percy choked on his words. "Who's after me?"

"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, glancing nervously back out of the broken window. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."

"Grover!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson," he apologized quickly. "Could you drive faster, please?"

"Where are we going?" Percy asked once the road narrowed and they moved past a field of strawberries.

"The summer camp I told you about. The place your father wanted to send you."

Percy didn't miss how Andy's shoulders tensed at the mention of the camp. His brow furrowed in confusion.

"The place you didn't want me to go," Percy added.

"Please, dear," their mother pleaded with him. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."

"Because some old ladies cut yarn."

" _What did you say?"_ Andy asked, completely stunned, horror filling her voice. "What—?!"

"Look out!" Harry yelled suddenly as the car exploded around them, sending Andy through a side window and to toss her head over heels into a heap. Her ears rung as she attempted to right herself, blinking several times at stare at the beast baring down on her.

The Minotaur.

But he wasn't heading for her, a glance to her side told her Harry was only regaining his bearings, not enough to see the half-bull.

"Harry!"

He felt something break as something rammed into his side, tossing him to the side enough to give him full view of one of the monster's horn's going right through his aunt's stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DunDunDUN! The next chapter won't be quite so dark, so be thankful for that. I created Calliope Evans for a different story that never saw the light of day, and I only used her in this story for the purpose of killing her off...that's so mean of me...but it is what it is.


	9. Cursed Blade of a Queen

_The seal was heavy in her hands, and she quickly thrust it back to her husband where he stood before her, his crown gone and wearing the armor of a warrior._

" _My lord, I cannot accept this!" she said, her voice trembling as she spoke. "This is the king's seal!"_

" _Andromeda, hush," he said, his eyes twinkling in the light as he cupped her face in his hand. "There is no one else I could think of to succeed me other than you."_

_Her wide brown eyes were filled with unshed tears. "But if I take this," she said in a voice that ached with emotion, "it's the same as saying that I believe that you will not return."_

" _Oh, my love," Perseus crooned softly, threading her dark hair with his fingers, "it is a promise."_

" _Will you promise to come back to me safely?" she whispered in return, resting a palm against his cheek. "Please, Perseus. Promise me."_

_But he could not. War was so unpredictable that the most he could settle for was pressing a gentle kiss to his wife and queen's lips with a whisper of his love._

Andy gave a soft groan as awareness returned to her once more. She blinked her eyes blearily as she sat up, her stomach stinging a bit. Peeling back the material very gingerly revealed the still regenerating hole through her midsection, though it was almost healed now.

_Beep! Beeep!_

Andy fumbled with her phone (surprisingly still intact from the car crash and from her being thrown around like a rag doll), pressing the answer button without bothering to check the ID. "H-Hello?" she asked tiredly.

_"Andy?"_

His concerned voice always brought a smile to her face. "Nico," she said, his name rolling off her tongue pleasantly, "hi."

 _"Hi,"_ he said with a small tone of surprise, _"you took off pretty fast last night. Are you alright?"_

Andy took a moment to look down at her stomach. "Pretty much," she said with a shrug, before hissing at the movement, "or, at least, nothing that can't be fixed."

She blinked in the harsh sunlight, looking around and staring at her step-father's car that looked a bit wrecked not forty feet away still smoking. "I think I was in a car accident," she said in an offhand manner.

" _What?!"_

"Meh," Andy said in a vague voice, "don't worry, I'm still alive."

 _"Really, I had no idea."_ Andy smirked as his sarcastic voice echoed from the speaker.

"Oh, don't be such a pain, Nico," Andy said, stifling a groan as she pulled herself up into a standing position. "I'm not too damaged."

 _"Not too damaged?"_ he repeated faintly. _"I will never understand you."_

"Not many ever will," she said agreeably, yawning widely. "I'll call you later…once I've found everyone."

She didn't give him the option to reply as she shoved her phone back into her pocket and approached the mangled ruin that was her step-father's (and that was using the term loosely) old car, ripping the trunk hood from the car, which had already been loose from the accident.

There they were, the bags with all of their things in it, including, rather astonishingly, Winter's laptop. She would be grateful for that, Andy knew. Winter was very particular about the care of her beloved laptop.

"Aeton," she called into the bright morning, "I need you."

For a moment, there was nothing but silence, and then the shadows lengthened on the ground before a great best burst forth from within. Aeton always seemed to grow every time that she saw him, but that might have just been her. Or Aeton. The hellhound-wolf hybrid had a habit of shrinking and growing depending on the situation, which was why he could seem like a kind-hearted average-sized wolf and be quite far from.

"Who's a good boy?" she grinned, scratching behind his ears, making Aeton shake his head slightly, no doubt she had hit an itchy spot for the fiend. "Did you miss me?"

Aeton barked out an answer before growling out a bit of information that completely stunned her. Her mother, taken by her uncle? As leverage for her brother?! A cold wind descended upon Long Island as she resisted the urge to hightail to the Underworld and give the Greek God a piece of her mind (if she had any to spare).

"Come Aeton," she called, her voice as frigid as the wind, "we have work to do."

Aeton slumped downwards to allow her to climb effortlessly onto his back, being mindful of the many bags looped over her arms, and began to race in the direction of the Greek scent.

There was nothing particularly wrong with Camp Half-blood, other than the fact that Andy knew she shouldn't be there, being a Roman and all. And then there were the teachings of the Greeks themselves that Andy didn't particularly approve of. Andy, like all the members of New Rome, had been raised to be a warrior, to have some skill with a weapon of any kind, including one's fists, but at Camp Half-blood everything was very…relaxed. And the Aphrodite girls…Andy couldn't resist a shudder. They were terrifying, and not in a very good way.

"Hellhound!"

" _Ingrannare! (Fool)"_ Andy grumbled as a young demigod screamed at the sight of her familiar, but before they could attack (an attack that wouldn't have done anything, weakling, she thought spitefully), Aeton had shrunken to the size of a German Sheppard, and a number of demigods could only stare wordlessly.

Andy gave them a glare that could boil water. "The next person to even attempt an attack on my familiar will not live very long." One would have called her bluff if not for the fact that Andy could look so bloody serious and dangerous at the same time.

And with that being said, she stalked up to the Big House, finding the two men in question that she was searching for: Chiron, the trainer of heroes, and Dionysus, the god of wine.

"Lord Dionysus," she said in a respectful manner, bowing lowly at the waist to the Greek counterpart of the man who restored her mind. "Master Chiron. Perhaps one of you might be able to tell me what I need to know."

* * *

Annabeth was spending an awful lot of time in the infirmary, but she needed to. She needed to know what was going on, and the dark-haired boy was the key, she knew he was. It had only been two days since he had stumbled over the border with two kids and a satyr in tow, but he still hadn't woken up yet.

"Waiting around won't change anything," a voice commented behind Annabeth, making her stiffen, "Percy doesn't know anything about the condition of Olympus."

Annabeth twisted around from where she was sitting to look at the speaker. Jack Frost hadn't changed much since she had last seen her, no matter how long ago it had been. Her white and blue hair was longer, but her green eyes still reminded her of fractured glass. Those same eyes were fastened on a computer screen, her eyebrows furrowed together and her face a little pinched.

"What makes you say that?" Annabeth asked a bit coolly.

The child goddess glanced up and smirked. "You don't like me much, do you?"

Her blunt manner surprised Annabeth. "It's not that I don't like you," she finally said, "it's just…" She was too much like Thalia, and it hurt.

"My crude manner? My sarcastic way of talking?" Andy inferred with an airy wave. "We are what we are, and believe me, I wasn't always like this."

Annabeth assumed that there was a story behind it, but from the way her eyes had drifted off into space, she didn't think that it was a very good memory.

"Aunty?"

Annabeth was surprised by how much her eyes softened when the young boy yawned widely, opening his eyes to reveal the identical eyes of the young goddess. "I'm here, Harry, it's alright."

"But, your—" His eyes flickered downwards to her stomach. "I should've gotten outta the way!"

"Harry James Potter," Andy said in a scolding voice, "I would gladly allow a Minotaur to gore me through the stomach instead of you."

Annabeth's eyes dropped to her stomach as well, noticing amongst the red blood that could not possibly be hers, there was a thick smear of dried golden liquid. It actually impressed her that a goddess would take a hit for a demigod child.

"Where are we?" Harry asked, abruptly changing the subject when he realized that he didn't know where they were.

"At Camp Half-blood," Andy said glancing to the blonde sitting beside her brother. "You, Winter, and Percy have been out for about a day. This is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. She's been taking care of you."

"Athena?" Harry frowned a little. "Like Callie?"

"Yeah, like Callie," she agreed, helping him sit up a little. "How do you feel? I think Chiron said you got thrown into a tree…"

"I was?"

Andy laughed lightly. "You did. Gave yourself a concussion, but you'll be fine."

"What about Winter and Uncle Percy?"

Andy glanced to the side where both demigods lay in a deep slumber. "They'll live," she said with a shrug. "I have been more fatally injured as a mortal than they have been."

Annabeth watched her curiously. More fatally injured? What kind of activities had she been engaging into as a child?

"Don't drink too much of the nectar," Andy warned, "you're a descendent, remember? Not a first generation. There's only so much your body can take."

Harry gave her a sulky look and she grinned. "Don't look at me like that, it's not like I haven't given you this lecture before."

He just huffed in irritation.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said, interrupting the pair, "but did you just say that he isn't a demigod?"

Andy arched an eyebrow. "He's a legacy…though I'm not too surprised you don't have many of those around here…"

Annabeth was sure that that was a jibe of some sort, but she couldn't be sure of what she was insulting.

"So, who's your brother's father?" Annabeth asked instead.

Andy allowed a smirk to play across her lips. "If I told you that, I would be making it easy." She glanced over to where her brother laid, his chest rising and falling with every breath. "If there is one thing that I have ever agreed with my father on, it is the secrets I must keep in order to keep Percy safe."

"You and your father don't get along?" Annabeth could hardly say she was surprised.

Andy cracked a grin. "Well, what can I say? We've all got daddy issues, don't we?" But her laughter was bitter. "My own would have preferred a son over a daughter, but we can't all get what we want."

Annabeth couldn't help but be a little stunned. What kind of father would just go out and say that to a child?

"Who is the boy with the scar?"

"Hm?" Annabeth's eyes drifted to hers once more. "What boy?"

Annoyance flickered in her green eyes. "The Hermes child with the scar."

"Oh, you mean Luke Castellan," Annabeth realized, her cheeks pinking just a little.

"Yes." Her voice had grown distant, and Annabeth couldn't fathom why. "Where did he get that scar?"

Annabeth wanted to dearly ask why she was asking, but that probably wouldn't be the best idea in this situation. "He went on a quest to the Garden of the Hesperides to collect—"

"One of the golden apples," Andy finished with a nod before admitting, "it is a dangerous task to undergo alone, he was a fool to think it could be done without more help."

Annabeth felt hot with anger and opened her mouth to defend her friend, but Andy cut her across. "Are not quests completed with three members?" she asked with a quirked eyebrow. "Some can turn quite disastrous if one does not keep to tradition."

"Did you?" Annabeth couldn't help but ask spitefully. Had even gone on any quests?

"A few times," Andy mused, "when I didn't, I ran into a few... _complications._ "

She leaned against the doorway, gazing out into the camp. It set an uneasy feeling within her.

"Tell Castellan that if he is who I think he is," she said, turning her head to meet Annabeth's eyes with a pair of frigid emeralds. "I'll _bury_ him."

And she was certain that she would do it as she watched her walk away, not understanding the malice she felt towards Luke.

It was late when Annabeth snuck back into the infirmary, but she could help but be a little curious about the laptop. What had been on it? She had seen a flicker of fear in Jack Frost's eyes. Cautiously, she lifted the laptop from the bedside table beside the girl named Winter. She was surprised to find that it wasn't locked, but her interest was in the file history which showed that the child goddess had been looking at when Annabeth had been checking on the patients in the infirmary.

Project Omega…a strange name, but Annabeth wasn't surprised that it was named after a Greek letter.

_Patient Omega, formerly known as Andromeda Snow…shows resistance to physical forms of torture…mental torture causes more damages…_

"Turn it off," a voice croaked and Annabeth was all too eager to slam the screen into the keyboard in her haste to tear her eyes from the broken ones on the screen. It only took her a moment to realize that it had been Winter who had been speaking.

The moonlight that painted across her face made her illness much more prominent in the thinness of her face and the rings under her eyes.

"It's not nice to go through other people's things when they're sleeping," she said in a cool voice that had no doubt been replicated from Jack Frost herself, but it was ruined by the hacking cough she gave.

"Do you need some nectar, I can—"

"That would be pointless," Winter said abysmally in a rasp, "why are you looking at Andy's stuff?"

"Andy?" Annabeth asked in confusion.

Winter rolled her eyes. "Andromeda Atalanta Jackson-Black," she said, using her friend's full name for a change, smirking slightly as she remembered how Andy had cringed whenever her full name was used. She'd only changed her last name recently, but it suited her better than Snow ever had. "White hair, green eyes, can be very bitchy?"

"You mean Jack Frost?" Annabeth said in confusion.

"Well, that's her goddess name," Winter admitted, "but why are you looking at her stuff?"

"I thought this was yours," Annabeth said.

"It is," Winter agreed, "but it's about her. I went through a lot of trouble to make sure that is the only copy of those documents."

"Why?"

Winter's brown eyes flared. "Because they're a bunch of bad memories for her and it would be better if she had them under lock and key, and know that no one else could ever find them."

Neither girl heard the light footfalls that left the silent vigil outside the infirmary, crossing the silent camp unaware of the plans coming into play deep beneath her feet.

* * *

The most irritating thing for Andy was that she had been in Camp Half-blood for a week, a bloody week! She did not like the Greek side of things, and this was just adding insult to injury.

On the plus side, Percy and Winter had woken up a few days after Harry had, so Andy didn't have to worry about the serious nature of their wounds (not that they were serious, mind you). And it seemed it would have no lasting effect on them, as all three would be joining the camp for Capture the Flag today.

Andy would have preferred War Games any day, but you get what you get.

She gave a mournful sigh as she traipsed through the greenery, trying to avoid the areas where war cries were coming from. And it was because she was so focused on that task that she didn't even notice when the knife came out of nowhere, sinking into her stomach only a few centimeters to the side of where she had been gored by the Minotaur. She had not been expecting it or the pain.

" _There is one place on your body that will always be regarded as a weak spot," Lupa warned, "it is the spot where you killed yourself in your previous life. You must never let the enemy know about it, or it will surely be your undoing."_

Her breath stuttered and her heart beat faster. She hadn't even known where…and the only person that could have possibly known how Andromeda, Queen of Mycenae, had died would have had to have been…Hades.

Andy muttered a curse under her breath. That bastard! He already had her mother as leverage for her brother to hand over Zeus' Master Bolt, which he didn't have.

She tried to pull the blade from her stomach, but every time she tried, a jolt of pain rocketing through her body. She hissed in pain, struggling to grab the phone in her pocket and hitting one of the numbers she had on speed dial.

"Yeah?"

"Callie?" Andy almost smiled. It seemed like it had been so long since she had heard her friend's voice when in reality it had only been a few days. "I'm going to be putting you in charge of Hecate House."

"What? Why?" She could hear the confusion and concern clearly in the demigod's voice. "What's happened?"

Andy looked down at the knife in her stomach. "Oh, nothing too major," she said nonchalantly, "I'm just going to be a little busy for awhile."

"Okay…if you're sure…"

"I am," Andy assured her, "I'll talk to you when I can."

"Su—" Callie didn't have time to finish as Andy shut the phone and stuffed it back into her pocket, pressing a finger to the small jeweled sword on her charm bracelet of weapons, allowing Harpe's familiar hilt to jump to her palm as someone made their way through the foliage.

"The others may be fooled by your charms," she said in a voice as chilled as an iceberg, "but do not make the same mistake with me, Child of Greece."

Luke Castellan's smile did not reach his eyes. "I have no idea what you are talking about," he said calmly, too calmly. His voice sent off warning bells in her head.

The pair of green eyes darkened as they narrowed. "You will pay," she promised with dark surety, "for what you did to Calliope Evans."

She smirked at the flicker of surprise. "I bet you thought you killed her then, but she found me. She told me what you did with her dying breath."

He started forward, as if to strike her down, but a sudden voice stalled him. "Andy! Andy where are you?"

Luke barely had time to run out the way he came as Andy's eyes drooped closed and Winter came into view.

"Andy!" she cried in alarm, once she saw where her friend was slumped against a tree. Winter wasn't sure if the young goddess was even breathing. "Andy?" She lifted her head up and the eyelids fluttered, but they did not open.

"Mm?" she slurred slightly, feeling the drain of the dagger on her godly energy.

Winter couldn't stifle a gasp as she looked down at the knife embedded in her skin. "What happened?" She reached to pull it out, but Andy stopped her.

"Don't," she warned, "it's a cursed blade. I can't even touch it."

"What should I—?" But Winter was rudely interrupted by a boy in bronze armor tumbling over a loose root. The armor itself looked as though it was suited for someone buffer, hence why Hecate House didn't use it.

"Whoa!" The brown-haired boy stood and stepped back so suddenly he crashed into a boy who looked just like him –his brother, no doubt-, his blue eyes dilating in shock and surprise. He fumbled with his blade, trying to ascertain whether or not Winter was a threat, as she was now crouched protectively over Andy, wielding Harpe despite the burning sensation it caused. Cute, suspicious, and a prankster- totally Winter's type. Unfortunately, Winter had no time to check him out.

"Out of the way!" she snapped, when another gasp interrupted her.

"Frost!"

A girl raced out of the foliage to where Andy lay unmoving. Her brown eyes were narrowed, her hair becoming a black ribbon behind her as she streaked towards the fallen goddess. It was then that Winter noticed the whip, and when she did, she mentally cringed. She never wanted to be on the opposite end of that weapon. She must have been daughter of Demeter, because she had created a whip from a thick vine that was covered with thorns, making it even more deadly. Winter wondered who got the idea first to make a whip out of the two girls; it must have been Andy (though she hardly used it these days), and the Demeter girl adopted it to fit her abilities.

"What happened?" she demanded of Winter.

"How am I supposed to know?" Winter snapped, her annoyance becoming obvious, making her reel back a little.

"Don't touch the knife," Winter warned, repeating Andy's warning, "just help me get her up, will you?"

"Uh, sure," she said quickly, curling one of Andy's arms over her shoulders. "How do you know Jack?"

"She's my friend," Winter said shortly, eyeing the girl contemplatively, "how do you know her?"

"She saved my butt in London a few weeks ago," she admitted. "So, whose child are you of?"

"I'm Winter Snow, daughter of Chione, goddess of snow."

One of the boys snorted and Winter turned her icy eyes on him. "Think my name's funny?"

"Ignore him," Demeter's daughter advised. "I'm Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter, and the two idiots are Travis and Conner Stoll, sons of Hermes."

" _Oi!_ "

"We're not—!"

Winter laughed again as they made their way out of the green growth and into the sun, unaware of the scene they were walking into.

"Oh _, Styx_!" Annabeth swore, "This is _not_ good. I didn't want…I assumed it would be Zeus…"

"I don't—" Percy started to say, when a howl split through the forest, ending all discussion then and there.

" _Stand ready! My bow_!" cried Chiron in Ancient Greek.

A monstrous black hound with glowing red eyes leapt towards Percy, when it suddenly caught sight of a group of campers at the edge of the forest. It changed direction in midair, sprinting towards the group. Two boys and a girl were knocked down by the beast, no lasting injuries, but the same could not be said for the other two. One was unconscious, being held by the other, she had no way to protect herself, when the Hellhound sank its teeth into her arm, sending her flying into a tree, where she lay, completely stunned. The other girl lay motionless, even as the monster dog picked her up with its dagger-like fangs, racing out of the camp as arrows rained down on it.

"NO!" The terrible scream shattered the day. Percy only then recognized his sister's friend, screaming in anguish, beating against another boy to free herself. "ANDY! _ANDY_! NO! _NO_!"

Percy's heart broke into pieces. "No," he whispered, his heart in his throat. "That's not possible…"

Andy Jackson-Black was gone.

 _"Di immortales!"_ Annabeth said faintly, pale from the encounter. "That's a Hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't... they're not supposed to..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron informed her, suspicion evident in his voice. "Someone inside the camp."

Then Clarisse yelled, drawing attention for the first time since her defeat at Percy's hand, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child," Chiron ordered.

"You're wounded," Annabeth said looking over Percy for injuries. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

"I'm okay," Percy said weakly, still in shock.

"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."

Percy decided it was best not to argue, besides the water was a bit appealing. He was shocked, though, when the campers around him gasped.

"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing to a space above his head. "Um ..."

Percy barely saw the three-tipped spear: the trident, as it disappeared, sorrow was squeezing at his heart. He'd already lost his mother to Hades, why his sister too?

"Your father," Annabeth murmured under her breath, almost inaudibly. "This is _really_ not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced in a final sort of voice, a voice that demanded for all to listen.

Percy didn't understand any of it, even as each and every camper knelt on one knee.

"My father?" he asked, completely lost. How did his father come into this? Why did he even _matter_?!

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

That was too much for Percy, and he fainted dead away.


	10. A Quest

Rage was the first thing Andy felt upon awakening in the Underworld.

"How _dare_ you?!" she raged to the god that reigned supreme there, her _dear_ uncle. "What in the name of _sanity_ is wrong with you?! Who'd you have knife me?! Charon? Thanatos? I bet it was Thanatos. Son of a—"

" _Silence!"_

Andy found herself without the ability to speak, which unfortunately, steamed her even more, so she settled for scowling venomously at him until he relented and her throat cleared once more.

"You know I hate you right now?" she asked with venom. "How many times do I have to bloody say it? Percy and I didn't steal Zeus' Master Bolt!"

"Foolish niece!" The Lord of the Underworld boomed. "You think I care about Zeus' bolt? I want my Helm! _You_ stole it!"

"Helm?" Andy spluttered. "When the hell would I have time to steal your symbol of power, _My Lord?"_ A sneer curled her lips. "Why don't you go ask Nico and Bianca, I've been spending an awful lot of time training."

"If you speak their names so callously," Hades began in a threatening voice.

"You think you're the only one who's watching out for them?" Andy snapped. "Oh, _please!"_

"Hm, Alecto told me a strange thing," Hades mentioned, his voice lighter than it had been previously, "she apparently saw him kiss you."

That awkward moment when your uncle sees his son kiss you, a son who was young in the Nineteen-Forties. Andy, consequently, was too irritated to be embarrassed.

"What, so now you're a stalking your kids?" Andy demanded.

"You're in a rather difficult position, niece," Hades warned. "A Roman falling for a Greek, especially with your parentage."

"You're one to talk," she said spitefully, but her heart dropped at his next words.

"Perseus and Andromeda, the greatest Greek love story, reincarnated into a son of Hades and a daughter of Neptune…would wonders never cease?"

Andy round her teeth together, but this time she kept her silence. She had thought that few knew about her past life as the Queen of Mycenae, maybe that was not quite the case.

"Nothing to say?"

She glared. "That has nothing to do with anything. I didn't even know about it for sure until Lupa told me a few weeks ago."

"Hm…" Hades eyes were dark pools of mad flames, and Andy imagined that Nico's eyes would look like that if he was ever angry (though Andy hoped that it would never be aimed at her). "Perhaps that was a good thing. Andy and Perseus together was a dangerous combination, Kronos saw it."

"What?" Andy's mouth had gone dry. "What do you mean 'Kronos saw it'?"

"Oh," Hades chuckled in a dark manner, "you mean you don't know? What a shame…"

Andy tried to stand up, but the knife sparked at the tip and she cried out at the agony of it, forcing her to remain where she was sitting painfully on her knees before his throne.

"Painful, isn't it?"

Her eyes turned positively stormy. "Where did you get the knife?" she asked instead, struggling to keep her voice level, to keep the pain and anger out of it. "I've never seen a curse like that."

"I would have thought you would recognize the knife," he said slyly, "after all, it was once your husband's."

"I hardly remember that life," Andy said coolly, "If you'll remember, being the lord of dead people ("Dead people?" Hades fumed) and all, that all souls for rebirth bathe in the River Lethe, it removes the memories of the past life that soul lived."

"I am well aware," he said dryly, "I am also aware that some memories are so strong that they can resurface in the form of dreams in the next life." She chose to ignore that.

"So why's the blade cursed?"

"I understand it was used against one of his enemies to electrocute him remotely." He smirked. "It can only be removed by him."

"I really want to kill you right about now," she said coldly. "If that was even possible, I mean."

"Which it's not."

Andy's eyes narrowed. Did he realize how extraordinarily like his son he was? It would have been almost adorable if Andy wasn't so bloody pissed at the man for his actions. First her mother was taken, and now her? The only thing she felt right now was sympathy for her brother who was probably scrambling.

"So," she said finally after taking a long moment to choose her words carefully, "keeping me here is too dangerous, I'm…volatile, and you wouldn't have two pieces of leverage in the same place."

Hades didn't deny the truth to her words. It was better to hide her at a separate area, that way if her brother came looking for her, he would only get one half of the people he loved most back. He would be given her location once Hades had his Helm of Darkness back in his possession.

"Yes, you will be moved soon," he said, before opting to tell her the truth, "hiding you within your father's domain will prove difficult for your brother."

Andy's eye twitched at the very thought. "My father will know when I enter his domain. He always does."

"Not if you are hidden among the dead."

Andy wasn't sure if she should be impressed, annoyed, or just plain creeped out. She decided to settle on annoyed as she was dragged to her feet by the skeletal guards.

"We're not done," she warned. "I will find you, and it won't be pretty."

Hades didn't doubt it.

* * *

It had hardly been fifteen minutes since Percy had fainted and Winter couldn't blame him for that, she couldn't imagine losing her mother and her sister in a matter of weeks. However, that didn't stop a number of the campers from making fun of him for it.

"Aunt Winter?"

Winter looked up from staring at a scratch on the floor to meet Harry's red-rubbed eyes. He must have been worried sick when his aunt went missing; he positively adored Andy. Winter felt a bit of shame.

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry," she apologized quickly, "I should have come and checked on you—"

"S'all right," he said thickly. "I wanted to be alone."

"We'll find her," Winter promised, thought even to her the words sounded hollow. "Andy's made of stronger stuff, you know that."

Harry nodded, but Winter couldn't help but be surprised by his next words. "I want to go back to Hecate House."

"You do?" she asked, vaguely startled. "I would have thought you would want to stay here."

Harry frowned slightly, his eyebrows creasing together making him look an awful lot like his uncle. "I just, I don't—"

Winter's eyes softened in sympathy. "I get it," she found herself saying. "Are you going to call Aeton once you get outside the border."

"Er, yeah," he said, glancing to where his uncle was slumbering without a care in the world. "Maybe I can help them with the traitor."

"C'mere." Winter enveloped him in a hug that was tighter than normal and that was sad. It left him feeling rather confused, like this was the last time he would see her.

"What's wrong?" he asked her when she released him, and she moved quickly to wipe away the tears that had formed.

"Oh, nothing," Winter said, waving an airy hand, but her voice cracked a little, "you've just grown up so fast."

Harry giggled at that comment. "See you soon, Aunt Winter," he said, hugging her again before squeezing his uncle's limp hand and walking out, leaving Winter to herself once more.

"Has he woken up yet?" This time it was Grover who came into the infirmary.

"Not yet," Winter said in a subdued voice. "I thought it was strange when he didn't wake up immediately, but then I thought he might be having a demigod dream."

"He might be," Grover was quick to agree, both of their eyes on Percy's closed ones which were moving back and forth under his eyelids, until finally they fluttered open and Percy shot upwards in bed.

"Percy? Whoa, calm down," Winter said, flinching when she saw the wild expression in his eyes. She'd seen the same look once on Andy's face and she had hoped to never see it again.

"What-where—?" He gasped, his mind a muddle of confusion.

"You're in the infirmary, man," Grover said, his voice shaking in nervousness. "You collapsed after Capture the Flag."

"Collapsed?" Percy said, a bit lost.

"Yes," Winter said, taking over for Grover who ran to tell Chiron that he was awake, "right after Neptune claimed you."

"Neptune?" he asked, flummoxed.

Winter slapped her forehead. "Right, sorry, I meant Poseidon. After Poseidon claimed you, and um-"

"Where's Andy?"

Winter's eyes settled into a glare. "She's gone," she said coldly, "she's been taken."

"Taken by who?" Percy's memory was hazy, but it was coming back. He remembered his sister hanging like a limp doll from the teeth of that massive black hound.

"Hades, Lord of the Underworld," she said darkly, "your uncle. I'm going to _kill_ him if Marlene, Callie, and Carmella don't get to him first."

"You do know that you can't exactly kill Hades, right?" Annabeth asked dryly as she entered the infirmary behind Chiron and Grover, jumping away from the girl slightly, who was now giving her a glare sufficient enough to melt snow.

"My friend is _missing_ and you're telling me my wording is _incorrect_?" she all but snarled.

"Calm yourself, child," Chiron spoke with that aged wisdom, "Do not let your unjust anger cloud your judgment."

" _Unjust anger_?!" Her eye twitched. "Unjust anger is causing accidents with ice because you _feel_ like it! _Just_ anger is hating your friend's uncle for kidnapping her!" Hot tears were spilling from her angry eyes and snow was beginning to form around her shoes. She rubbed her hands feverishly over her cheeks, relieving her cheeks of any trace of the angry tears before taking a calming but shaking breath.

"If Hades does not return her by the solstice I can think of a few immortals that'd get a bit more than annoyed, not to mention to state of Hecate House…"

She paused as Annabeth and Percy shared confused glances, and she gulped. "Uh…oops…"

"What's Hecate House?" asked Annabeth. She had never heard of it.

"Um, its…nothing…" Winter said uneasily; very few people even knew about the House of Hecate, apart from its inhabitants, the gods, and the mortal parents of the demigods that lived in it. It was a bit like a secret organization; 'that's need to know, and you don't need to know.' Andy liked it better that way; it was easier for the House to function if they were under the radar.

"Winter." The way Percy was saying her name made her wince.

"I'm sorry, Percy, I really am," Winter said with a despairing sigh, "but I really can't disclose that kind of information."

"Why? Because you'll anger the gods?" Percy's response was biting and the sky rumbled with disapproval at the blatant disrespect.

"I'm more worried about the anger of your sister, actually," Winter said dryly.

"What does she know about it?" Percy demanded.

Winter exhaled a long breath as her phone buzzed and revealed a message from Callie: _Traitor found. Ethan Nakamura. In pursuit._ She sighed a second time.

"She's the patron goddess of Hecate House," she said. "Get some rest Percy, and leave your sister to me."

If he yelled something after her, Winter was too lost in thought to hear it.

* * *

She found herself entering into the Demeter cabin not too much later, searching for one person in particular.

"Katie, wasn't it?" she asked to the room as all the occupants turned to look at her, but she disregarded all others except for the girl she had met less than half an hour previously.

"Yes, Winter, right?" Katie retaliated in kind, earning her a small smile. "Did you need something?"

"Actually, I came here for you," Winter admitted, "fancy going on a quest?"

The question was surprising to say the least, and had stunned all of the children of Demeter. None of them had ever been on a quest. The ones who were most likely to go on quests these days were either children of Ares, Hermes, or Athena.

"You're serious?" Katie said in a bit of disbelief.

"As serious as a heart attack," Winter agreed, "come on, we've got a goddess to rescue!"

"Hey, I didn't say I was going!" Katie called after her.

"Yes, you did!" was her only reply, making Katie mutter a swear that earned her a few stares as she hurried to pack a bag before racing after the pale-skinned demigod.

"So," she began awkwardly, "do you know who took her?"

"Yep."

"Do you know where to find her?"

"Absolutely not."

"That's very helpful," Katie said dryly. "How are we supposed to find a missing goddess if we have nothing to go on?"

"We find someone who knows her better than anyone else," Winter said, her eyes holding a twinkle. "We go looking for Nico di Angelo…and if you repeat that name to anyone, Andy won't be the only one trying to kill you."

Katie would have laughed if she hadn't known that Winter was being completely serious about the whole matter. "Why?" she asked instead.

"Dunno," Winter said with a shrug, "Andy's very secretive about him and his sister, Bianca. Just don't tell anyone their names, alright?"

"Um, sure…but can I ask one other thing?"

"Shoot."

"Why exactly did you pick me for this quest?"

Surprised brown eyes met identical brown unflinching ones. "She saved your life, that's what she told me," Winter said after a long moment of intense staring, "she said she was quite impressed with your spunk, taking on the Manticore without a weapon."

Katie could feel the heat flooding her cheeks at that comment. "Really?" She had impressed the goddess who was renowned for being as cold as ice.

"My friend," Winter said in an almost forlorn manner, "is not as cold and heartless as she seems."

Katie opened her mouth to speak, perhaps to say that that didn't really answer her question, or perhaps to say that the night that she had been saved by Andy (it was so strange to refer to her by her mortal name), she hadn't seemed heartless at all, in fact there was an almost mentor-like nature that she possessed, but at the closed-off expression on her face, she fell abruptly silent.

"So where is this Nico di Angelo?"

"In Nevada," Winter said before wincing slightly, "oh, and if you do talk to him about Andy, try to be a little…delicate about Andy's situation."

"Why?" Katie asked in bemusement.

A quirk of the lips was the closest Winter got to a smile. "Because they're kind of a thing."

The incredulous expression on the daughter of Demeter's face almost made her laugh, but not quite. And she turned to whistle piercingly and yell out "Aeton, _heel_!"

The shadows spread across the plain, bending and warping and reeking of death and decay. Katie took a step back, tentatively towards Winter, as if her presence could shield her from the darkness before them.

The loud bark made Katie jump violently, still tense from the shadows' movements, and then Katie let out a small but terrified scream. Her brown eyes went wide and she immediately went for her dagger strapped to her thigh.

" _Hey-hey-hey!_ " Winter yelled, jumping in front of the part-hellhound, but failing at hiding it completely, as she was small and it was large. "You can't just go around stabbing things just 'cause they _look_ like they're bad!"

"That's a hellhound!" Katie retorted, her voice just this side of shrieking. "Why the _hell_ are you protecting it!?"

"Okay, to be completely accurate, he's half-hellhound, half-wolf, which makes him much more cute and kick-ass (Katie thought it didn't look much like he liked being called cute), and you can't kill him because he's Andy's familiar!" Winter snapped, her hands splaying out to her sides, as if protecting the monster.

"What?" Katie asked faintly.

"A familiar," Winter explained patiently, "they're kind of like animal guides for witches, they're supposed to help them with witchcraft, but I've never seen Aeton do anything like that. He's a real sweetheart, trust me."

Katie eyed him uneasily, and finally she edged forward slowly to pat the fur on the top of his head. She had to admit that Aeton was much better tempered and far cuter than normal hellhounds. The glowing ruby eyes were a little strange when combined with the appearance of a wolf, but it wasn't in a bad way.

"See?" Winter said to Katie before leaning down to whisper into Aeton's ear, "we need to get to the Lotus Hotel and Casino in Nevada."

Immediately, Aeton stiffened, becoming alert as his body grew to the appropriate size for a hellhound.

"Climb aboard," Winter invited, but it was more of an order. "Aeton will have us in Nevada in no time, don't worry."

"Oh, I'm not worried," Katie said in an obviously false voice as she reluctantly climbed onto his back looking very much like she wanted to throw herself off of him.

"Of course not," Winter murmured to herself as she situated herself in front of Katie, who immediately gripped her waist painfully. Winter fought hard not to wince at the movement. "Hold on tight Earth girl, and try not to scream too loudly."

"What're you—" Katie gave a cry of alarm as Aeton leapt forward, melding into shadow.

* * *

"Whatever you do, don't eat anything," Winter warned as they entered into the casino.

"Why?" Katie asked, her eyes automatically dropping to the delectable row of highly expensive treats.

"Because they're as addictive as the food of the Underworld," Winter said, recalling Andy giving her the same lecture the first time she had brought her along the first time around. "Just stay close, alright?"

"Um, sure," Katie said, following her through the thick throng of people. "This is so bizarre!" The people were all wearing different kinds of clothing styles. A woman walked past them wearing a pale blue chiton and sandals, and then there was a young dark-skinned man with a very large afro. "What is this place?"

"The lair of the Lotus-eaters," she said, and the awe quickly fell from Katie's face, "there they are!"

The pair whom Winter was searching for turned out to be two Italian kids around Katie's age. They looked remarkably similar with their dark hair and olive skin, but the boy captured her interest first because he was the one who had caught the eye of a goddess. She could see why Andy had a thing for him.

"Winter?" the girl said in surprise. "We thought you weren't coming until next week."

Technically, she and Andy were going to be coming back the next month, but time worked differently in the Casino. "Sorry, but duty calls, and we need your help."

"We?" Bianca asked with a quirked eyebrow, her dark eyes darting to gaze questioningly at Katie.

"Oh, right," Winter said, stumbling a bit over her words, "this is Katie, daughter of Demeter, but that doesn't matter right now (Katie wasn't sure if she should feel insulted or not), Andy's in trouble."

"Andy's in trouble?" Nico asked, his ears catching onto the information and holding it like a lifeline. "What are you talking about? I just talked to her!"

"She kind of got stabbed by a cursed blade," Winter rushed her words, knowing how Nico was about Andy, "and then she got kidnapped by a hellhound—"

"Wait-what?" Bianca asked in confusion. "Hellhound? Like Aeton?"

"Definitely not as nice as Aeton," Winter said, "which is why we need your help, Nico."

The twelve-year old demigod frowned and crossed his arms. "I don't understand why you need me."

Winter had heard from Carmella of the possibility that Andy and Nico had been lovers in a past life, with the compatibility of their soul signatures.

"You must know she's very…" Winter struggled for the appropriate word to describe the situation, "fond of you."

"Fond?" Nico's lips twitched slightly at her phrasing. "Is that what you're going with?"

"Yeah, it is," Winter said hotly. "What would you call it? You're the one who kissed her!"

Nico's cheeks pinked and Bianca goggled at him while Katie stared on, impressed by his backbone.

"I know you care for her, Nico," Winter said, her eyes imploring, "and I need your help to find her."

Nico's eyes drifted off into the distance as if remembering a memory, but it wasn't that. Nico's forehead wrinkled in confusion as his eyes met a similar shade of brown that belonged to a young woman in a flowing dress and dark waves flowing over her shoulder. He'd seen her many times before, in his dreams, she was Andy, as in the first Andy. She gave him a sad smile and turned and vanished.

"Nico?"

"How can I help?" he asked.

"Normally I would have asked Carmella to do this, because she's the best at tracking, but she's busy, besides this isn't something she can track with her skills," Winter admitted.

"And somehow I'm better?" Nico asked, his sarcasm peaking.

"Just go with it," Winter advised as she placed her hands gently on either side of his head. "I need you to do your best to focus on Andy, on her words."

Nico allowed his eyes to close, the image of his oldest friend in his mind's eye; her green eyes dancing in amusement, the blue of her white hair shimmering like water in the light.

" _Trust me." Her eyes were imploring his as she held out the pitch black blade to him, fitting his fingers around the hilt. "This sword was made for you Nico, it is proof of your worth."_

" _Do not fear your power! Your power makes you strong, makes you great in the eyes of the gods!" Andy's eyes flashed in the light as she tossed his sword aside with hardly a second glance._

" _No one is without fault." Andy's voice was dead as she recalled her own mistakes to him._

" _In the end, we're all just mistakes." Her bitterness struck a chord in him as she spoke of her father, a father who hated her existence._

" _You are a gift among mortals, it is time that you see it." She smiled mysteriously and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek as if she knew something he didn't._

" _There is no right or wrong, all that matters is the choice and how you remain true to it." She was sitting beside him, her shoulder bumping against his, her eyes twinkling like emeralds._

" _If you followed my trail, what would you find? But an immortal goddess in a bind…" She was suspended, lifeless, cocooned in an orb made of bone halfway concealed in the sandy bottom of the sea._

Nico's eyes finally fluttered open and the confusion settled in once more, as he didn't remember the last one.

"I think I know where she…is…" Nico rubbed at his eyes and yawned widely. "Is anyone else…sleepy?"

As a matter of fact, they were all yawning much like Nico was.

"Wazzgoingon?" Katie mumbled thickly, stumbling.

"My apologies," a smooth voice said, one of the lotus-eaters, Winter noticed through hooded eyes, "but Lord Hades has ordered that you be stalled for a time, so sleep well."

A few unsavory curses bubbled at Winter's lips before her knees buckled and she fell, the world fading to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized I got the timeline too accelerated so I had to do this to compensate, but it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself! Katie's pretty awesome, so of course she gets screen time!


	11. Sacrifice

"Andy?"

Andy could barely hear the sound of her friend's voice over the raging river, but sitting close to open water calmed Andy, probably because she was Neptune's child. A permanent frown marred her face as she peered into the distance where she could see a small group of kids her age sparring together. She could just barely make out Jason Grace's blonde hair.

Andy glared viciously at Jason from a distance, not even bothering to look up as Marlene sat down beside her.

"You know," she said, keeping her voice light, "he's not as bad as you think he is."

"Oh, yeah?" Andy muttered through her teeth, crossing her arms tightly. "Look at him! He's like Mr. Golden Boy!"

"You're jealous," Marlene said wisely.

"Jealous?" Andy exploded. "I most certainly am not! How could I ever be jealous of _him?"_

"You're jealous because no one looks at Jason the way they look at you," Marlene said, turning her eyes on her. "People look at you as though you are someone to be feared."

Andy's eyes focused on the blonde in the distance, she could see his smile…

"Why did Neptune have to sire me?" she asked with a voice filled with so much agony that Marlene had to resist reaching out a hand to her. "Why couldn't I have just been some nobody? Like a daughter of Mars ("Oi!" Marlene said in indignation) or Bellona, or someone?"

"Lupa says we are all born to be someone," Marlene said sagely, "that we are who we should be."

"Lupa says a lot of things," Andy said with a bit of a grumble, "it doesn't mean they're true."

Marlene was more surprised that Andy said something against Lupa, she was her favorite goddess after all. "Look," she said, "one day the two of you are going to get stuck together and you're going to have to sort out your problems and you'll figure out just how alike you are."

"We are _not_ alike," Andy disagreed firmly. "We don't act alike at all!"

"That's 'cause you hide behind a harsh exterior," Marlene said, giving her a significant look. "one day, you'll see he is your mirror image."

Her words were almost poetic in a way, but there was no possible way that they were alike in anyway…come on…there was nothing…similar… All she could do was sigh and tell herself that it was a lie, but it was sounding more like she was trying to convince herself…

Katie's head felt heavy, almost as though it was made of lead and her memories were a muddle, some of which she was sure were not hers. Was it a human memory that belonged to Jac-Andy? And then there was that whisper that rang in her ears.

_"If you followed my trail, what would you find? But an immortal goddess in a bind…Child of the earth, follow my scent, and find the goddess filled with contempt…Hidden by death in a place where one is out of breath…"_

Katie blinked her eyes and stifled a groan as she rubbed at her eyes, ridding them of the "sleep sand" that had accumulated during her sleep. A glance around told her that the others were all still asleep, slumped into random positions, and it didn't look like they would be waking up any time soon.

Katie shivered suddenly and then she gasped and stared.

"I didn't mean to startle you," her barely familiar lilt echoed to Katie's ears. Jack Frost –or Andy Jackson-Black, she supposed– was sitting not too far away, her hand resting gently on Winter's back as if to make sure she was still breathing. Her pale blue stola –a Roman garment that had been inspired by Greek fashion; why she was wearing it, Katie had no idea– was flaked with frost, clinging to her slim shoulders –it had dawned on her just how small the goddess was, even smaller than Nico, and how young she was, as Katie assumed that was her true age, judging by how well Winter, Bianca, and Nico knew her–, and she was leaning heavily on a trident that looked faintly reminiscent to Poseidon's.

She gave the daughter of Demeter a faint smile. "Hello Katie."

"Y-You're here!" she said in stuttered surprise. "But how?"

Andy's smile was wry. "I am a goddess, Katie Gardner, no matter how minor I am or how weak my current state is, I can appear in one's dreams if I wish."

"Wait, this is a dream?" Katie said flummoxed. "But—"

"Dreams can sometimes mimic reality," Andy said as if reciting from memory, "it's something Lupa always said." Katie had half the mind to ask who exactly Lupa was, but that wasn't really important. Katie watched with interest as her eyes flickered to Nico's fallen form, even though he was just a replica of the real boy. She seemed pleasantly surprised by his presence, very pleased, and relieved.

"I wasn't expecting him and Bianca to come," she said with a small smile, "Winter's idea no doubt." And then her face fell into the lines of misery.

"Is something wrong?" Katie asked quickly. "With Winter I mean, she seems sick—"

"She is sick," Andy interrupted, "very sick, but you can't help her and she doesn't like to be treated like she's ill or weak." She bit on her lip giving a soft laugh. "She's like me in that aspect…" She shook her head lightly, as if to shake the thoughts from her head. "I can't think about that, and you, I need your help to free myself."

"But how—?"

"You have all the pieces to the puzzle," Andy said, "all you need to do is put them together."

"But—" Katie started, but she was interrupted.

"Immortals are tasked with being vague," Andy said dryly before nodding to the two dark haired children. "Do me a favor? Keep an eye on those two for me. If anything happens to them, their father will make your life and mine very difficult."

"Wait!"

"Katie! Katie, you need to wake up!"

Andy's attention rose upwards before she met Katie's eyes once more, her sea-green eyes serious. "You see what others do not, Daughter of the Earth. You alone will see my trail, I have no doubt."

She opened her mouth, mere seconds away from calling out a second "Wait!" to her, but then her form and the dream itself melted away into warm mist. She only caught a glimpse of Andy as the world disappeared, but that glimpse made her heart still. It was the image of a young girl lying in the sandy bottom of a lake or river. Her white hair seemed to shimmer silver and the blue seemed darker underwater. Katie could see enough to tell that bones surrounded her, but once she opened her eyes, the image faded from her mind as if it had never been there in the first place.

"Katie?" A pair of brown eyes was peering down at her in confusion and worry. "Are you alright? You took the longest to wake up."

Katie narrowed her eyes and blinked a few times, allowing the fuzzy images to clear into a few faces hanging above her. It didn't take long for the fuzzy blobs to clear and form the faces of Winter, Bianca, and Nico hovering nervously overhead, each bearing a face of concern.

"Did I faint?" she asked, feeling suddenly shameful.

"No," Winter said, rolling her eyes as she grinned, but that didn't make up for the almost grey tinge of her skin, "we all got dosed. Not really sure what they used. Too angry to care. The Lotus-eaters got paid off by Hades."

Katie stared. "Um…okay…did I miss anything else?"

"It's the Twenty-first of June and we've only got a few more hours until Midnight," Bianca offered, "so, basically we're screwed unless we can find out where Andy is."

"I-I think I can help with that," Katie said as the Bianca helped to hoist her into a standing position (nearly dislodging her bow as she did so). "I had a dream—"

"Did you see her?" Nico asked quickly. "Andy? Was she—?"

"Nico," Bianca warned, but with an undertone of understanding that only a sister could, "let her talk."

Nico flushed crimson in embarrassment. "Right, sorry," he muttered, and Winter barely hid a smile. "So, what did Andy say?"

"Well, she said that she'd given me all the pieces and all I had to do was put them together," Katie said, trying to remember exactly what it was that Andy had said to her. "She gave me a weird riddle…what was it?" She wracked her brain for a second before remembered it at long last. "Oh, yeah! ' _If you followed my trail, what would you find? But an immortal goddess in a bind. Child of the earth, follow my scent, and find the goddess filled with contempt. Hidden by death in a place where one is out of breath.'"_ She glanced at either of them. "Does that make any sense to either of you?"

Nico frowned thoughtfully, mouthing out words, perhaps what she had said. He rested the fingers of one hand on the curve of his eyebrow and below the bridge of his nose, his eyes closing beneath them as he thought long and hard. Winter looked similarly stumped, but her eyes were darting back and forth, her mouth moving fast as she whispered rapidly to herself. Bianca merely screwed up her eyes, her fingers tapping out syllables onto her legs where her hands rested against them.

Then Nico's eyes jolted open and he dropped his hand from his face. "She's underwater!" he said, his voice colored in surprise.

Winter's eyes widened as well and she slammed her fist into her hand like she was making the rock in rock-paper-scissors. "Of _course_!" she said, her voice completely dumbfounded. "What better place to hide a daughter of the sea than in her father's realm?"

"But, wouldn't Poseidon have noticed if Andy was in his realm?" Nico asked her.

Winter shrugged. "Hades' control is over death and shadow," she mused. "I suppose if he surrounded her with enough of them, he could effectively hide her in plain sight."

Katie had stopped listening. Her mouth had dropped open moments earlier and she had not since moved. Ice particles were thick in the air, so thick that they seemed to leave a line in the sky above them…a trail. Was this what she was talking about? It had to be! No one else seemed to be able to see it, which left only Katie as their guide.

"Hey," Katie called over to the three who had begun to argue (how did they ever get anything done when they were together?). "I think I found something for us to follow—" She gave a yelp of surprise and a small amount of pain as Aeton the Nice Hellhound practically flew out of the shadows that formed around them where they had fallen to the ground what still felt like the night before in the casino. He didn't bark or whine or make any sound whatsoever, merely gripping her arm with his teeth and tossing her onto his back. She barely had time to straighten herself when he gave the same treatment to Winter, Bianca, and Nico. A pair of slight arms instinctively wrapped around Katie's middle –Nico's, she theorized, if she had to hazard a guess– to keep themselves from falling off. Aeton bounded forward straight into the brightly colored wall of the hall, but they never made contact with it, sinking, instead, into the cold shadow. Katie felt like her skin was being warped from the speed, Nico could hear strange noises surrounding them, Bianca felt as though she was going to fall off of Aeton's back due to the increase of speed and Winter felt shivers going down her spine. It was difficult, but Katie peeled her eyes open at the pitch blackness except for the thread of white.

"Left!" she gasped, and immediately, Aeton followed her directions without question. She was starting to understand how great the bond was between master and familiar, because it seemed to Katie that the only reason that the beast put up with so many of them was because he wanted his master back, which Katie could understand, but only a little. "Right!" They would be close very soon now, close enough that they could probably walk (and swim, it seemed that would be inevitable if she was where they thought she was), which Katie found she would prefer very much more than this form of travel. "Stop!"

Aeton dug the heels of his paws into the ground, skidding in the earth and sending dirt everywhere as he attempted to comply with her demands, sending four kids tumbling from his back to crumple, the di Angelos landing in a heap while Katie and Winter were tossed into the base of two separate trees. Katie could feel her ribs bruising under her skin and a cut had appeared on the side of Winter's face.

Still, despite their injuries, Winter and Katie couldn't help but be relieved that their 'short' ride on Aeton had come to a stop, but the expressions on Nico and Bianca's faces told them they were rather disappointed.

"Oh, I did not mean for that to happen," Winter groaned, caught somewhere between clutching her roiling stomach or her bleeding head, but her head seemed to win out as everyone else stumbled into a standing position. "I feel like I ran into a tree…"

It was very hard not to see it as comical and Katie had to bit her lip from actually saying anything. "That's probably because you did run head long into a tree," she offered delicately, or maybe not so delicately, if that not-so-polite expression on Bianca's face was to be interpreted correctly.

Winter's smile was dry as Bianca approached her and began to fuss over the cut like a worried mother (thought Bianca would hate to be seen that way). It was both sweet and annoying, never one or the other with Bianca di Angelo. As it was, her head was spinning rather terribly, and it was quite difficult to tell whether or not up was down or down was up or if they were all part of each other. This made focusing a bit more difficult than usual and Winter could hardly pay attention. Slowly, very slowly, the world cleared and she could finally make at least a little sense of her surroundings. And it was not a good feeling that she was picking up.

The hair on the back of her neck was standing on end and her eyes scanned the forest they were surrounded in for any threats. But it was quiet. Too quiet. The rustling of leaves and branches in the wind was all that could be heard for miles, it seemed. Surely there should have been noise? Shouldn't there have been?

Were her instincts wrong? She wondered. Winter mentally slapped herself, remembering how many times instinct alone had saved Andy, and her friends when they went on unsanctioned quests –a feat they often repeated, why, Winter did not know. They was something out there…something dangerous…something trying not to be seen. She took a step back suddenly when she finally saw it. She gulped. It was not an it; it was a them. Dozens of piercing, fiery red eyes, identical to Aeton's, but not filled with the friendliness he had, but bloodlust. She glanced to Nico and Bianca. Obviously they had some skill with dealing with Underworld creatures, but even they wouldn't be able to hold this many at bay.

"Protect those two with all you've got," Andy had once said, completely serious, "'cause they're important to a very powerful god."

Hades, she had meant, Winter knew she had. If Hades children were killed, all hell would break loose, and she meant that quite literally. She wouldn't want to see the outcome to that…and maybe she wouldn't have to. She gulped and steeled her nerves.

"Bianca, Katie, Nico, get on the hellhound," Winter tried to say calmly, but her hysteria was kicking in.

"Wha—?!" Bianca asked confused, staring at her like the other two who were trying to ascertain what exactly had her so worried.

"Now!" the daughter of Chione barked and the three couldn't help but comply with her demands.

Winter's eyes held Nico's in her gaze for what seemed like the longest time and she gave him a melancholic smile. "Tell Andy I love her, more than anything in the world," she said softly, her voice breaking slightly as if she had suddenly realized what her brain had been telling her all along. Lots of demigods died on their first quest. Winter would have wanted to live longer, but her Thread of Fate had been cut a long time ago and it was only now catching up with her. But the others needed to get to Andy, if she was not present at the summer solstice, then there truly would be war between Zeus and Poseidon, Jupiter and Neptune, whoever the hell they were. Winter grimly thought, there would be no better way to die than to do it for someone she loved, someone she had long since regarded as a sister.

"Get them out of here, Aeton!" she roared drawing two blades with razor-sharp edges.

Katie yelped and Bianca screamed and Nico yelled as a hellhound jumped from them, only to have Winter cut down with her swords. And then they were gone and Winter was left with a legion of hellhounds she couldn't hope to best.

She growled baring her teeth in what she thought was a menacing way, hefting her blades dangerously. She would die today, there was no doubt, but she was going to take as many of them with her as she possibly could.

Winter gave a war cry and raced into the thicket.

_Babump…_

_Babump…_

_Babump…_

…

…

* * *

Harry was lagging behind Aunty Andy's friends and probably would have collapsed if not for Carmella's vice-like grip on his hand, dragging him along so he didn't get lost or left behind as they speeded after the traitorous son of Nemesis. Revenge, how fitting.

"I'm going to _kill_ Ethan Nakamura!" Marlene growled in between pants for air. The daughter of war's eyes had long since been filled with rage, something that turned out to be invaluable as people careened out of their way, trying to avoid them as they raced through a train and through the streets of L.A. following the smallest trace of the son of Nemesis' scent.

The traitor of the House had been revealed. It only made sense for Nemesis' child to be behind Andy Jackson's poisoning, after all, his mother had frequently caused indecision within Harry's aunt. To what end, no one knew. But a child could not be blamed for the parents they had, as Andy often said –in reference to her 'adoptive mother' it was believed to be. Still, Ethan's parentage only helped to fuel Andy's friends' rage towards him.

This wasn't your average Greek versus Roman duel to the death simply because of blood; Ethan had no knowledge of the Roman side of demigods, and they had no knowledge of the Greek side except for a select few and they liked to keep it that way. The less that knew, the better. This was simply revenge for a wrong doing, plain and simple. Oh, his mother must have been so proud.

At one point, Carmella turned and lifted Harry onto her back, so the tired legacy of Thanatos only had to worry about not skewering himself on her needle-sharp arrows and the edges of Heracles' Bow which were as sharp as any good knife, transforming into a double-edged sword for close combat, if needed. It was a rather serious worry as Carmella looked ready to kill anything that stood still long enough.

" _Merda_!" Carmella swore in Latin (and Italian), coming to an abrupt stop. The others followed suit, despite the fact that Carmella was in the back –something that made no sense, as she was the tracker, you would have thought she'd be in the front- and Marlene in the front. "The trail's gone!"

Following that pronouncement were a large number of foreign and English swears that had the mortals around them looking at them oddly and with disgust.

"What do you mean the trail's gone?!" snapped Callie, turning to gaze at Carmella, startling the daughter of Venus. Carmella wasn't exactly sure what it was that she saw, but it was something that had fear gripping her heart for an instant, and then it was gone faster than she could even blink. "How can it be _gone_?!"

"His scent vanished," Carmella said after taking a moment to collect herself, still breathing hard like the rest of them. "He must have found a river to hide in- I doubt we'll be able to pick up the trail again; by then his scent will be too faint."

Harry groaned with the others, dropping his forehead so it rested against the back of Carmella's neck.

A cool gust of wind blown their way had them all shivering, but Harry didn't mind it too much, it reminded him of things that must have come from Thanatos' ichor, of Death himself, running through his veins; the scent of rotting flesh, the smell of burning cypress, and butterflies taking flight. These were all symbols of his ancestor (or simply granddad as he liked to call him), Thanatos, and the Underworld itself.

Harry dropped from Carmella's shoulders, his eyes wide saucers as he stared at the spirit that was now formed beside him.

Winter Snow looked beautiful in death, not that she hadn't been in life, but it was more pronounced now that she was dead. Harry didn't think he'd ever seen Winter wear a dress before, because she shared Andy's views on how fighting in a dress was impractical, but it seemed to add to her natural beauty.

She didn't speak as the tears poured silently from his eyes. All she did was give him a sad smile and wave farewell, disappearing into mist.

"Harry?" Callie was squatting in front of him, her eyes filled with concern as she gazed into his green orbs. "What's wrong?"

"W-Winter," he whispered, his voice clogging up with all the things he'd never said to the young half-blood. "S-She came to say g-goodbye."

Marlene looked thunderous, but she didn't refute his words as she turned away so no one would see the tears that fell from her eyes, Callie's eyes grew dark and stormy and full of unshed tears, and Carmella buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with the barely stifled sobs.

 _You have succeeded, my lord_ , the spy whispered, her voice filled with glee _, the girl will be beyond grief at the loss of her sister, she will be easy prey. Everything is going according to plan._

 _Good_ , the voice deep in the pit murmured, _very good._


	12. Broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that some of the phrases are stolen from the book and are unaltered because no one has intruded on Percy's quest much until now. This chapter was very difficult for me to write and it might seem that Percy isn't too upset over Winter's death, because she was more of Andy's friend than his, and he was definitely more attached to Andy.

Katie tried not to think about Winter as she gazed out across the calm river. The beach was empty now because of the time and the thundering storm clouds overhead, empty except for three demigods and one hellhound.

Aeton whined sadly, burying his nose in between his paws, listening to Bianca di Angelo sniffle quietly –Winter had been the one who taught her how to use a bow, along with Carmella, and it didn't take a genius to see that Winter was not coming back.

Nico tugged on Katie's sleeve and she turned to look at him; she had never seen someone so lost before in her life.

"She could've survived, couldn't she?" he pressed. "Winter's good with the blade; she could've survived."

Katie hated to burst his bubble, but— "No," she said flatly. "Winter is dead."

Identical expressions of disbelief colored the siblings' faces, so Katie elaborated.

"My mother is Demeter," she explained. "She is an earth goddess, and if her children try hard enough, we can sense life ending, and Winter was dying before we even entered that forest."

"I don't understand," Bianca said. "What do you mean she was _dying?!"_

Katie shrugged hopelessly, her eyes scanning the surf. "I don't know what it was exactly, but there was something wrong with her, internally." Katie shut her eyes and expelled a deep breath. "It's the solstice; we don't have much time. Jack Frost needs to be present—"

"You're just going to _forget_ about her?!" Bianca demanded, her cheeks enflamed as she glared at the daughter of Demeter. "She just _died_ for us! She just _gave her life_ for us! How can you just—!"

A pair of soft brown eyes glowered at the girl. "Have you ever lost a sibling, Bianca?"

That startled her. "No," she admitted.

"I have," Katie said coldly, "more than I can count, and I can tell you losing a sister or a brother hurts a hell of a lot more than a cousin or a friend. Winter is dead. Jack Frost is not. Focus on what you can do, and not what you should have done."

Nico frowned slightly. He'd heard some very similar lines from Andy. _"If you lose yourself to the past, to what you should have done…well, you leave yourself wide open for attacks at all sides."_

"Can either of you swim?" she asked suddenly, squinting out at sea.

Both di Angelos shook their heads and Katie sighed. "All right then," she said, trying to sound upbeat, but failing as she pulled her quiver and arrows from her shoulders, dropping them into the coarse sands, "the trail goes out to the middle of the river before curving downwards. I'll go get her…just…keep an eye out for stray hellhounds."

" _Wait_!" Nico called after her, racing into the water, sending water into the air by the mere movement of his legs. She turned to survey him, but she couldn't make out the emotion that his eyes held.

"Thank you," he said, "Me and my sister haven't done anything at all; you and Winter've been doing all the work—"

Katie raised an eyebrow. "There isn't much you could have done, anyways; it's not like you can actually see the trail she's left behind."

"I know," Nico admitted, "but she's my best friend, and—" He stopped short, his cheeks flushing with heat.

An amused smile touched Katie's lips as she said, "And perhaps a bit more?" She remembered what Winter had said about Andy and Nico.

The color refused to assuage from his face. "Thank you," he said again.

Katie smiled, her irritation at him and his sister leaking away as she saw how deep his concern was. "You'll see her soon enough," she promised.

Katie waded out into the murky water, trying not to make a face at the smell of the polluted liquid, before swimming out to the spot where the brightness faded into the water. Katie took a deep breath and dove underwater.

She could understand why Jack Frost was rumored to be an environmentalist; judging by the amount of human debris that had collected beneath the surface, it seemed as though people had been using the river as a dumping ground for years. It would make anyone want to go green. But she had a task at hand to worry about…she did not like to think of the war that would ensue should she fail.

She swam deeper until her ears began to hurt from the amount to pressure placed on them, and just as her lungs began to burn, she caught sight of it; a sphere resting on the bottom made completely of bone. It became clear once Katie swam close enough to peer through the bones that the shadowy silhouette within was Andy.

The child goddess' skin almost shimmered with different pale colors –from a soft gold to a gentle sea-foam green– from the sunlight shining down into the murky water. Her pale, blue-streaked hair, flowed gently in the water, almost silvery in the half-light and she was unmoving and possibly not breathing, if Katie had to hazard a guess, but that wasn't very worrying; immortals didn't really need to breathe. Katie kicked her feet once more, throwing a fist out to force a hole through the bone. Distantly she knew it shouldn't have been that easy to break through a prison made by the Lord of the Dead, but then it was probably only impervious to Andy, not anyone else.

She propelled herself through the small hole she had made, coming up right next to the girl and raising an arm, trying to slap her cheek with as much force as was possible underwater.

It worked.

A pair of stormy green eyes flashed open and filled with confusion at the situation she was in.

Katie, on the other hand, was quickly running out of air. Feverishly, she pointed upwards and Andy nodded seriously, gripped her wrist and shooting like a rocket for the surface.

When they broke through the surface Katie gasped, taking in a deep breath of fresh air, trying to steady her heart as her feet hung in the free air, before her ankles hit the sandy shore, causing her knees to buckle and the goddess to fall limply to the sand.

"Are you all right?" Bianca asked, helping Katie stumble up into a standing position.

Katie gave a small groan, a hand closing into a fist over her heart, feeling the throbs of her heartbeat against her ribcage. "Oh…I'll recover…sometime this century…"

A startled laugh escaped Bianca's lips and Katie realized that when she wasn't angry or upset, she was actually pretty nice to be around.

Nico was more preoccupied with his best friend, helping her sit up dazedly. "Andy," he said, relief laced through his voice as her head rested on his shoulder, "Andy, are you alright?"

"Air," she whispered, turning her head into his neck, "I never thought I'd miss it so much…"

Nico chuckled with the two girls and Nico yanked her up into a standing position.

Andy blinked as she took him in, almost as if she had actually forgotten what he looked like. And then she bluntly said, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" the twelve-year-old Italian demigod asked blankly. "Sorry for what?"

She blew air out from between her lips, sending a blue-dyed strand of hair up slightly. "I shouldn't have run off without—" She started to say, but Nico interrupted her, dropping a hand to squeeze hers very gently.

"Shut up," Nico advised her, hugging her gently, "I get it, really, I do," before releasing her quickly, realizing they were making a scene.

"So, Winter is dead?" Andy asked, almost conversationally, but everyone could hear the tremble in her voice. "If she was a-al—," her throat closed and she couldn't even force the word 'alive' out, "If she was, she would still be here."

"I am sorry, my lady," Katie breathed, bowing with one knee biting into the sand, stooping her head in shame. "I take full responsibility—"

"There is no need, daughter of Demeter," Andy interrupted smoothly and sorrowfully. Bianca was struck by how…noble her actions were, as if a queen were speaking to her lady-in-waiting, or duchess, her servant. It wasn't that she treated Katie inferiorly, but in the way she spoke. Andy had always had a certain way about her, something she liked to call the 'Walburga-effect', because certain manners and ways she was supposed to act were ingrained in her by her step-mother, Walburga Black. And she was the heiress of a large fortune by her back in Britain, maybe that was why she acted the way she did, dressed the way she did; Andy wasn't made to blend in, everything she did was to break away from her old life, a life of order and rules and manners. But no matter what she tried, there were times when the formality slipped out.

"She was living on borrowed time," Andy said throatily. She turned away and bent her head down slightly, pinching the bridge of her nose, but all three demigods could see her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs. She always liked to put up a strong front, but despite her brave face, she wasn't an unfeeling soldier. Andy pressed her palms so hard into her eyes that she saw black spots. "I should have been there," she murmured brokenly, her voice cracking. "I promised I would, when she…"

Andy leaned forward and braced her arms against her knees, the tears falling freely now, peppering the sand with wet spots.

When she faced them once more, the tears were gone, but she wasn't fooling anyone with those red, irritated eyes. There was something else in her eyes that startled Nico, like something had broken inside her. He recalled what Katie said earlier about losing a sibling: _losing a sister or a brother hurts a hell of a lot more than a cousin or a friend._ It wasn't hard to imagine Winter and Andy as sisters. They were very close, and he knew that Andy was responsible for bringing her to New York to get her out from under her mother's thumb.

"Aeton," she called softly and the hellhound bounded up to her, giving her a wet, sloppy kiss that almost had Andy smile. She seemed to forget what she was going to say as she petted the demon dog's fur, looking into his expressive ruby eyes. Katie wondered if she could telepathically speak with her –familiar, was it?–, judging by how silent she was being, Katie could only assume so.

Andy released a soft breath of air, blinking her eyes hard as if trying to clear her vision. "Aeton," she repeated, "Take… _them_ …back to their homes. Stay with Katie until I say otherwise."

The demigods immediately started to complain, but the goddess was gone in the blink of an eye.

"I hate when she does that!" complained Bianca, digging her foot into the sand, and Nico and Katie could only silently agree.

* * *

Andy tried not to look at the giant bronze gates, at the deathly scenes they portrayed. Zeus wasn't the only one who could do well as god of theatre; Hades could probably outdo him in that department. Try as she might, the daughter of Neptune could not feel rage towards her godly uncle, mostly because she was so numb from her friend's death. She gave a mental sigh, if only Persephone was here, she would have certainly put an end to this nonsense…

The overwhelming scents of Persephone's garden flowed in through her nostrils, but she didn't look at the trees of silver, or the strange luminescent plants, or the numerous precious gems scattered throughout the garden. Her entire focus was on the black and bronze palace beyond the garden, an exact replica of Mount Olympus…only darker. All the black made her think of Nico; for being so cheerful –usually: meaning when he and Andy weren't having a fight, which were rare to begin with- Nico had a remarkably dark way of dressing. She climbed black steps, passed black columns, moving by dozens of doors guarded by various skeletons, padding softly over the bronze floor to the enormous bronze doors. Her annoyed eyes barely glanced at the two Marine skeletons that stood guard on either side of the doors, but she could see how they uncomfortably shifted at the sight of her. In the back of her mind she felt a little pleased how the dead seemed to fear her, but it wouldn't last long, if everything went according to plan…

Andy raised an arm, bringing her fingers together in an echoing snap, the doors flying open as a result.

Hades was not surprised to see her. Well, she supposed, there was always that. She wondered if he was ever surprised when she showed up suddenly, unannounced. You could never tell what he was thinking with eyes like his…eyes like Nico's. Andy tried not to think about that tidbit; it might make her be nicer to her uncle.

Her green eyes, dark with sorrow, met with his, so black and filled with mad fire, and she didn't remove her gaze even when she knelt before him.

"Uncle," the word caught in her throat, solemn and sad. Broken.

"Niece," he said as unfeeling as she had.

She stood once more, her posture stiff. "Why did you send the hellhounds, Uncle?" she asked quietly. "Was it because they were close to finding me, your only leverage against my father? My brother?"

A frown marred his face; he didn't like to explain himself, least of all to the bastard of his brother –no matter if he liked her more than his own siblings.

"I will not be questioned by a minor goddess," Hades said dangerously, "much less, a Roman."

And that was when he saw it; the sheer and utter rage. Her eyes seemed to glow with the intensity of it. If there was anything in particular Andy was proud of, it was being a Roman.

" _A Roman_?" Andy said coldly. "You are treading on thin ice, my _dear_ uncle. Need I remind you that it was _Rome_ that conquered Greece and _Rome_ that built an empire and _Rome_ that made you more respectable." Her voice had gone low and dangerous. "I would not think that I would be defending _myself_ against _you_ , Uncle, when you –like your brothers- once had a Roman child."

Hades wasn't the only one treading into dangerous waters now. The throne room was vibrating with tension from the death god.

"You have insulted me," the young goddess said, her eyes filled with pain as well as the anger, "in _every_ way, and you destroyed my trust in you when you kidnapped me and had _my sister_ killed. But I should have known better," she said the last bit with scorn, "after all, you are a Greek."

And with that, she took one look at his enraged expression, and stormed out of the throne room, evaporating into mist, reappearing in Mount Olympus' courtyard.

-  
Winter liked death. In death, everything was simple; no boys to impress, no monsters to kill, no lies to keep up with, only peace and quiet. Freedom. Everything seemed to have slowed down around her, as if time itself did not affect her.

"Your name is Chiron?"

Winter's eyes snapped open at the sound of Percy's voice and slowly she took in her surroundings, almost in awe at her situation. She, of course, had been to DOA, the entrance to the Underworld, she recognized the steel grey walls and the black leather couches and a raised podium behind which Charon lounged.

She smiled and blushed when the god gave her a saucy wink.

"What a precious lad," Charon was saying, "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"

"N-no," Percy backtracked.

"Sir," Charon prompted.

"Sir," Percy added.

Charon pointed to his name tag, his fingers roving over the upraised black lettering. "Can you read this, mate? It says C-H-A-R-O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON."

"Charon," Percy repeated.

"Amazing!" Charon said, clearly making fun of Percy. "Now: Mr. Charon."

"Mr. Charon," Percy said blandly.

"Well done," Charon said, slightly pleased. "I hate being confused with that old horse-man. And now, how may I help you little dead ones?"

Percy glanced to his blonde-haired demigod for help. Winter recognized her as the demigod who had tried to calm her down after Percy had awoken from his fainting spell. She had the same startlingly grey eyes as Callie, but Greek, so probably a daughter of Athena…her memories of her mortal life seemed so distant now and so confusing…she thought her name was…Annabeth…

"We want to go to the Underworld," the daughter of Athena said.

Charon almost smirked at her response. "Well, that's refreshing."

"It is?" she asked in surprise.

"Straightforward and honest," he said, sounding a little impressed. "No screaming. No 'Mr. Charon there must be some mistake.' how did you die, then?"

It was Grover the fau-satyr who spoke this time, and Winter had to say he was not good at coming up with things on the fly. "Oh. Um...drowned...in the bathtub."

"All three of you?" Charon asked, his reptilian eyes flickering between their eyes.

They nodded.

"What about you, luv?" Charon asked as Winter approached the podium.

"Mauled to death by hellhounds," she said, propping her elbows up onto his podium, giving him a sardonic grin.

"Winter?"

Winter turned her head to survey the boy who was the brother of her friend. Her dark eyes softened. "Hey, Perce," she said softly.

"No," Percy said, his voice shaking as his eyes saw what his brain refused to acknowledge, " _No_ , you-you _can't_ be dead! I just _saw_ you!"

Annabeth couldn't help the sadness that filled inside her, she may not have known Winter Snow very well, but all half-bloods felt connected to each other in some way; she felt sorry that a demigod as young as Winter had to die so soon –she couldn't have even been more than ten or eleven.

Grover ducked his head. He'd liked Winter when Andy had introduced them. She hadn't talked much, simply sticking to her friend's side like glue. She'd been so in awe of New York, because she'd never left Quebec, or her mother's side, and everything was so new to her.

Winter's eyes filled with remorse. "I'm sorry, Percy," she said, raising a hand to hover over the flesh of his cheek, wet with newly shed tears, "but I really am dead."

Percy rubbed the tears from his face, scrubbing so violently that his cheeks turned bright red, his eyes alight with anger.

Winter recognized the emotion easily; Andy and Percy were more similar than they were willing to admit. "There's no use getting mad," she warned him. "Sometimes bad things just happen." She rolled her eyes slightly, jumping up onto the podium, ignoring the disgruntled Charon. "I mean, we're demigods, for Jove's sake! Not a lot of us survive to adulthood…wow, doesn't that put a lot of faith in your fellow half-blood, does it?"

Percy's lips twitched slightly and Winter clapped joyously, but his heart still ached with sadness. He couldn't say he knew her real well, as he connected more with 'Jack', but to him, she was family. "See! You smiled!" She grinned. "Death's not all bad, Perce, and I'm going to try for rebirth," she said with a faux-pompous air as she jumped down from the podium, her nose high in the air. Then, haughtily, she said, "I've deserved it, don't you think?"

She tossed a glance to Charon who grinned widely. "I'll put in a good word for you, luv."

Winter stuck out her tongue at him, turning back to Percy. "Charon doesn't like to give demigods free passage into Hades' realm, but maybe if you hand over that pouch of drachma he might reconsider."

Charon's eye twitched and he opened his mouth to disagree, but his eyes glinted with greed as he dumped a number of golden coins onto the podium's surface.

"And maybe mention a pay raise," Winter added innocently. She dug out a few silver coins from her transparent pocket. They caught Annabeth's eye immediately. They weren't anything like the golden drachma most demigods carried, they were silver with one side stamped with the Olympus palace, while the other had SPQR in between laurel leaves, over two crossed blades. The fact that really confused her was why they were silver –as the Olympians never used less than pure gold- but she decided not to mention it.

Winter smiled apologetically at the Greek god of boundaries. "Guess your obol's going to have to be denarii; I'm fresh out of drachma."

Charon gave a mournful sigh, but he took the bribes all the same. "The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you four and be off."

Winter gave the demigods and satyr an amused look as the Ferryman scooped the money into his hands and stuffed them into his pockets. "Come along."

Winter followed him cheerfully –why she was cheerful about being dead, Percy had no clue–, but Percy was more morose, and Annabeth and Grover were cautious. Almost immediately the ghosts packed in the lobby began to swarm the four. They were harmless, but Percy supposed death had done nothing to curb Winter's temper, because she drew a transparent dagger and waved it in an arc forcing them back, an annoyed look on her face.

"Back off!" she snapped. "You don't pay the fine, you do your time!" It was an odd phrase, but it seemed to fit their current situation.

Grudgingly, the spirits backed away from Winter and her invisible blade. Annabeth wasn't sure how a ghost with a transparent knife could incite fear into other ghosts, but she wasn't one to question it.

When Charon finally got the preteens (and Grover who was well past his preteens) into the elevator, squashed up against some ghosts with green boarding passes, he turned back to the other ghosts still in the lobby. "Right," he called, his voice echoing in the mostly silent waiting room. "Now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone. And if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?"

"What happens to the spirits in the lobby?" Annabeth asked as the elevator doors snapped shut and slowly descended.

"Nothing," Charon said with Winter sniggering like the idea amused her. Grover, Annabeth, and Percy wondered why.

"For how long?" Annabeth asked.

"Forever," Charon said before shrugging, "or until I'm feeling generous."

"Oh," she said, her face pale. "That's…fair."

Winter bit her lip to stop from laughing; she really had come here too much.

Charon seemed to find this statement amusing as well. "Whoever said death was fair, young miss? Just take a look at your friend," he said, nodding his head towards Winter who tossed him an annoyed glance. "Wait until it's your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going."

"We'll get out alive," Percy said firmly, speaking for the first time since he'd discovered Winter was dead. He was pale; his voice was shaky, but still determined.

Charon only chuckled.

Then the elevator floor began to tilt, the direction of the elevator changed; down was now forward. Winter's form flickered and instead of her casual jean shorts and ratty tee-shirt, she was clothed in grey robes, much like the rest of the ghosts that surrounded the questers. Winter plucked at her grey sleeve in disdain; clearly grey was not her color.

Suddenly it made sense why the elevator was tilting back and forth, because they weren't in an elevator anymore, they were in a boat that rocking to either side as it waded through a dark inky river. Winter was leaning over the side gazing intently into its depths as if she'd never seen anything quite like it before, and Percy soon found out why. There were bones –human and not so human-, bleached white and floating in its murky depths, but there were other things in the river as well. Ripped diplomas, burned diaries, broken swords, ruined sketches, just to name a few.

When Winter raised her head again, her eyes were misty. "The River Styx," she said sadly. "For thousands of years, humans having been tossing in dreams and wishes that never came true, it's made it so…polluted." Winter dropped a transparent hand to dip into the black water. "I don't know why," she said softly, "but it makes me sad." She twirled a finger into the mist rising off the liquid beneath them.

"I know what you're thinking, Percy," she said suddenly, her brown eyes snapping up to his green ones. "You can't beat yourself up for not being there," Winter said softly, mentally hitting herself for what she was about to say, "I was dying anyways."

" _What?!_ "

Winter winced. She could practically see the anger vibrating off his skin.

"Leukemia," she told him, her voice suddenly solemn. Annabeth clapped her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. "I was diagnosed with it a few years back, only Andy knew. I didn't want everyone to treat me like delicate porcelain." She gave a weak smile. "Snow is one of the most delicate and beautiful things in this world; it would only make sense that Chione's daughter was as well."

She realized her slip a second too late, but, thankfully, Chione and Khione sounded the same so the trio didn't notice. She sighed, such was the downside of being a friend to Andy Jackson-Black; you had to keep up with the secrets and lies.

Winter gave them sheepish grins. "Death in battle is all the glory I expected in this life."

"But that's so sad!" bleated Grover, his chin wobbling slightly.

Winter shrugged. "I didn't choose this; the Fates did, and I'm not willing to go against their wishes for a few more years of life."

Annabeth (and Percy, though he didn't want to admit it) was surprised at how…accepting Winter was of death, but then the girl was practically transparent; there wasn't much she could do anyways.

Winter gazed pensively, smiling slightly when Annabeth gripped Percy's hand.

"Daughter of the wisdom goddess."

Annabeth lifted her eyes from the river to catch Winter's nearly clear eyes. "Yes?" she said cautiously.

"A favor for Andy and I?" Winter said with a smile. "Keep an eye on this one," she nodded to Percy, "he needs looking after."

Percy began to protest.

"I'll do my best," Annabeth said with a laugh.

Winter's eyes twinkled. "You're in good company, Perseus." Percy made a face at her, but quickly turned to one of concern at her frown. "What's wrong?"

"I sensed Andy," she said finally, "but now she's gone."

Percy breathed a sigh of relief. "So she's safe?" he asked her, his voice strained slightly.

Winter smiled mysteriously. "For now."

* * *

Olympus was quiet. Too quiet. The only noise Andy could hear was her heart beat echoing like dull thuds in her ears. The only thing Andy could feel was her heart beating frantically against her ribcage as if seeking to escape her chest.

Hestia had met her in the courtyard only moments before, and she had been so enraged by recent events she had transformed into her Roman counterpart, Vesta, literally glowing his anger.

Vesta's words echoed through her mind as she strolled up the steps, giving her purpose.

_Hecate House was attacked…burned to the ground…_

… _More than one traitor…_

_Peleus Pax, son of Vesta, Helios Derk, son of Trivia, Sophia Johnson, daughter of Demeter, Beatrix Sol, daughter of Venus, Helen Well, daughter of Nike, and Icarus Ramson, son of Nike, are among the deceased…_

… _The rest have set up camp a good number of miles away from Camp Half-Blood, but also away from mortal interference…_

… _Trivia is being swayed by Saturn's will…_

Andy opened her eyes as she reached the throne room and raising a hand, opened godly fire on her uncle, who retaliated in kind, blasting her with some sort of golden energy that she dimly remembered from when she was made immortal.

She was sent flying and suddenly she was a bright comet speeding towards the earth. She closed her eyes as the timelessness that had been her eternal life drained away leaving her open and vulnerable as she impacted with the ground.


	13. Healing and Choices

It was a good day for butt-kicking in Clarisse La Rue's opinion; she'd already owned Lee Fletcher from the Apollo Cabin in arm wrestling and bested Travis and Conner Stoll in a foot race. At least, it was a good day before something made of bright light fell from the sky right down to crash into the grass in front of the Big House. Clarisse was not the only one who stopped and stared, but Clarisse was the only one that recognized the person within the blazing light.

The light faded slowly, finally letting the campers see the form within it. It was a young girl, her hair splayed out on the burned grass, her skin glowing red with heat as she gasped for air.

Clarisse only recognized her because she'd seen her in passing several times, mostly hanging from the branches of Thalia's Pine. She'd actually thought she was some sort of nature spirit until the girl had pulled out a sword once in Capture the Flag and proceeded to best several of Clarisse's brothers. After that -even though she was a bit irritated that her cabin had been shown up by an outsider- Clarisse had an unspoken respect for her. But she didn't even know her name.

Clarisse rushed forward. "Girlie!" she barked, reaching the almost-twelve-year-old's side, but quickly retracted her hands with a hiss, her fingers burning with the heat.

She glared at three first year Apollo kids that were crowding around looking shocked. "You three!" she snapped. "Get some ice water! _Now_!"

The trio scampered off, leaving Clarisse with the barely conscious daughter of the sea god. Her pale lashes fluttered against her olive cheeks. Clarisse saw the barest sliver of her green eyes as she stirred briefly.

"Don't worry, girlie," Clarisse muttered quietly so no one would hear her. "We'll get you fixed right up."

When the campers returned, she dumped their buckets of cold water on the child of the sea, causing steam to erupt from her skin, but then her flesh cooled considerably so Clarisse could scoop her into her arms and shove a path through the gathering crowd that was now whispering and muttering feverishly they passed.

"Oh, dear," Chiron uttered, following closely as they entered the hospital ward and Clarisse -more gently than was believed possible- laid the child on a spare bed.

Clarisse turned to Chiron as the centaur took one of her limp hands in his, his other cupping her cheek in his hand.

"What happened to her?!" demanded Clarisse. "She fell out of the _sky_ for Zeus' sake!"

"She is mortal," Chiron said, wonderment coloring his voice.

" _What?!"_ Clarisse hissed in shock, looking quickly back at the slumbering girl. True, she still had that aura of power as when they had first met, but it had always been a more godly power, now it was quieter, calmer, like a demigod's.

Chiron nodded. "What this girl needs is rest; we shall leave her be."

Clarisse took one last glance at Andy before leaving the now-demigod in peace and quiet.

* * *

Andy stared in quiet awe around her. There were so many magical items she lost track of how many, racks upon racks of clothes, potions stacked in neat rows, books pressed against each other on shelves, and too many shoes to count. And Andy wasn't alone.

"Hello, darling!" a lovely voice called and Andy stared. It had to be Venus. Her face was changing to fit Andy's standard perception of beauty. One instant she looked like her mother, then her elder deceased sister, Lily, then a bit like Nico -or Bianca, really-, before Andy got annoyed an envisioned her as she was; Carmella's mother.

Venus smiled, her violet eyes twinkling as she spun a caramel curl around her finger. "How sweet of you, niece, not many see me as the form I once took when Adomo Romano courted me."

Andy tried not to scowl at the mention of Carmella's father, a wizard who didn't like to be saddled with his dyslexic and attention deficit daughter. Carmella barely saw her father as he had married and had a daughter a few years after she was born. Whenever Carmella had unfortunately stayed at her house, her sister, Grazia, had shoved it in her face, because her name meant 'pleasing', whereas Carmella as just 'golden'. When Carmella had returned the next day, morose and sorrowful, Andy had told her stoutly that she was the prettiest girl in Camp Jupiter and her sad excuse for a sister was just jealous.

"Why did you fall in love with him?" Andy asked.

Venus' eyes softened. "That, my dove," she said kindly, "is a loaded question, and I can assure you, the man I loved was not as pompous or as ruled by personal agendas as he is now."

Andy pondered on that for a while.

"Aunt Venus," Andy spoke up again, "where are we?"

"Oh!" Venus blinked, seemingly surprised, either that, or she was a really good actor as she gazed around the mall. "It's just one of those abandoned malls in sewers; there are so many these days."

Andy raised an eyebrow; she'd never heard of something so ludicrous...but she thought it best not to question the goddess, her aunt was a bit...odd.

"And why are we here?" she asked.

"Why, for your new wardrobe, my dove!" Venus informed her with a smile. "Since the majority of your things are scorched beyond recognition, you are in need of new clothes!"

This fact seemed to excite the beauty goddess, but Andy groaned, clapping her hands to cover her face, a sigh hissing through her clenched teeth. "Aunt Venus-" but then she was nearly bowled over by the weight of clothes the goddess threw at her. A pair of green eyes stared quizzically down at the material in her hands. Most of the garments were her style; leather, army camouflage, black, blue, and green, much to her relief, but some of them earned her aunt another raised eyebrow and an incredulous look.

"You would look lovely in lighter colors as well, my dear," Venus mused, her eyes raking up and down the slim demigod (as she was one once more), "they would bring out the various greens of your eyes."

"My eyes are sea-green, Aunt Venus," Andy said calmly.

Venus passed her a pale green top. "Not," she said, "if you look hard enough."

The apparel fell from Andy's arms as she followed Venus. "Aunty, this is a dream…so where are these clothes going-"

Venus winked conspiratorially. "Don't worry, dove, it's all been sorted out; you'll have an important decision to make when you wake up."

"And what's that?" the daughter of Neptune grumbled.

"Whether to leave…or stay…"

* * *

Everything stung as Andy limped up to Half-Blood Hill, to the entrance of Camp Half-Blood, to Thalia's Pine. Andy had missed her talks with her spirited cousin. Andy sighed and ran a loving hand over the bark. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "It's just not for me."

As Andy turned to leave a voice yelled out, "Wait!"

She turned just as Annabeth came to a halt, sending dust flying.

"Wait," she repeated. "You can't just leave! You're one of us! You're Percy's sister! You belong here!"

Andy gave a sardonic laugh. "No, no I most certainly am _not_ ; I am a cursed child, a daughter of the sea god, I don't _belong_ anywhere, that much has been made clear to me."

Annabeth's grey eyes were filled with concern; it was sad for one so young to think such things. "You're not a curse, Andromeda Jackson-Black," she said –having learned her full name from her brother only recently–, her voice tingeing slightly with desperation. "Please stay."

Andy's eyes were bleak as she gazed out into the horizon, the sun barely shining through the trees. "When we first met you couldn't stand the sight of me," she said after a long pregnant pause. "I didn't really understand why until I realized just how alike Thalia and I were." She looked Annabeth straight in the eyes. "You saw a lot of her in me."

Annabeth flinched.

"I am a Daughter of Rome," Andy said, her voice taking on a melancholic tone, "just like my friends, and believe me when I say this: I _do not_ belong."

Annabeth watched her go sadly until her form vanished into dust.

Camp Half-Blood had hardly disappeared behind her when she came across a handsome stallion grazing near the road, eating...she blinked...was that gold?

The horse looked up like it could hear her thoughts and neighed to the child, _I didn't know humans came in that shade._

He seemed to find that humorous.

Andy's hot cheeks filled with more heat. She looked down at herself in embarrassment. "Oh, I...um...got burned after I lost my immortality," she said, staring inquisitively at the horse, "you're Arion, right? The son of Neptune and Ceres?" She could faintly remember him from when she was younger, still completely out of her mind as she clung to his mane.

The horse gave her what she assumed was the equine equivalent of 'duh' _. Do you know any other handsome, immortal, incredibly-_

"Wow!" Andy said, making a 'down boy' gesture. "Calm down!"

Arion nickered and Andy could hear the string of colorful curse words that she wanted to learn in Italian.

"Can I get a lift, my esteemed and talented brother?" she asked with an elaborate -and painful- bow.

The horse straightened under her layered praise and he knelt so she could clamor onto his bare back. She'd heard tales of his speed, but Arion seemed content to walk at a slow canter.

"Arion?" she asked quietly, dropping a hand to the side of his neck. "Do you think I should stay?"

The horse considered her for a moment. _I think it would be wise to learn from the Greeks to better your skills,_ he told her surprisingly serious _, You seem to prefer the 'exile' approach._

Andy wrinkled her nose slightly at the horse. "I shouldn't even be alive," she reminded him. "A lot in the Legion don't like me; how do I know the Greeks won't be the same?"

 _Test drive_ , He said.

Andy blinked and a slow smile spread across her face and a laugh erupted from her burned lips.

"A test drive," she repeated, "maybe I'll consider that...dear brother."

"Andy!"

"Jack!"

"You're back!"

The daughter of the sea stared at the demigods that had amassed around her and Arion. They were all Roman and all with traveling bags strapped to their backs.

Andy tried to smile, even though it hurt. "Heading off to the Legion?"

"You look like hell," Wyatt Cole, son of Vulcan, told her, squinting up at her red face. "Mortal?"

Andy laughed. "You know me better than that, Cole. Demigod, not mortal. Heading off to the Legion?"

The Roman demigods shared sheepish looks, but Andy wasn't too surprised when she noticed the pool cue the demigods were holding. It was a Portkey that many of the Romans at Hecate House had used to return from time to time to Camp Jupiter. Supposedly, it was a gift from Hecate. "That won't get you all the way to Camp Jupiter," she warned the group. "You'll still have to walk a good bit, Cole!" She raised her voice to a shout as the portkey activated, dragging the Romans off to California.

Arion took initiative and trotted down in the direction that the Romans had come from. In no time they found themselves in what used to be a camp, but almost everyone had packed up. Marlene was the first one to catch sight of the daughter of Neptune. Andy resisted a smile as the tension left her friend's shoulders and her weary face filled with relief; clearly she'd seen Comet Andy.

"I knew you were alive," Marlene told her shortly –but Andy could see she'd been worried- when Arion came up next to her, petting his side. "Who's this beauty?"

A shiver of pleasure rippled through the horse and Andy rolled her eyes. "This is my brother, Arion," she explained.

Marlene's eyes crinkled with silent laughter; she had met Triton, Andy's arrogant half-brother who was green-skinned merman with two tails and black hair, and Arion was definitely an improvement.

She winked. "Good genes." Her eyes roved over her red, burned skin and she winced. "Does it hurt?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Andy told her with a sigh, before casting a critical eye to her friend. "Why didn't you and Callie and Carmella go back to Camp Jupiter?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Andy stared over Arion's ears to gaze pensively at Venus' daughter. Her arms were crossed and an incredulous look was splashed across her face. "C'mon, Andy, you know us better than that," she said, her voice playful. "We're your friends, and since you're staying, so are we."

Andy blinked. "I never said I was staying," she said finally.

Callie rolled her grey eyes at her. "Seriously? Andy, the only thing good about Camp Jupiter was Fourth Cohort and War Games; you've got family here, a brother that loves you, and a mother that misses you!"

"But-" Andy sputtered slightly, trying to come up with an argument against her staying, "I-I am a Centurion of Fourth Cohort! _A Senator!_ "

"Senators aren't required to remain in camp all the time," Marlene reminded her. "And the Electoral Battles aren't for another few months, but you'll ace those no problem."

Andy's eye twitched as Harry came up to where she was on Arion's back. " _Fine_!" she snapped, pulling her nephew up with difficulty so he settled in front of his young aunt, running his fingers through Arion's mane, trying to ignore his aunt's injuries and attitude. "But if this doesn't work out-"

"We know where you'll go," Carmella assured her, before yelling behind her to the Greek demigods awaiting instructions, "Let's go, you lot! Time to move out!"

* * *

Andy's eyes shot open and she took in a painful breath, her ribs aching with the movement. She looked around in confusion; she was back in Camp Half-Blood, in the infirmary.

"You fainted from the heat, girlie," a gruff voice told her, helping her to sit up against her cushions, handing her a glass of nectar. She blinked her hazy eyes up at the person who was helping her. She was a burly girl with stringy brown hair and eyes the same color.

"Clarisse La Rue," she said, remembering the girl from a couple of Capture the Flag games. She was mean with the spear. "Thank you," she told her with a throaty croak, her hands shaking as she took the glass from Clarisse, but she was not as strong as she thought she was and nearly dropped it if not for Clarisse catching her hands and helping her take a deep gulp, mentally sighing as the flavor of liquid chocolate chip cookies flowed down her throat.

Clarisse set it aside, helping her lay down again. "Your brother was here earlier," she told her, but her voice was barely above a growl, showing her obvious dislike, "with your nephew, he said your name was Andy?"

She voiced it like a question, but, then, Andy was a boy's name...so...

"It's short for Andy," Andy told her. "Andromeda Atalanta Jackson-Black."

"Long name," Clarisse said gruffly. Strong name, too.

"You have no idea," Andy muttered. "You're Mars' girl, right?" she asked, her mind still jumbled from her fall from grace.

"Mars?" Clarisse frowned. "That's Ares' Roman name, but yeah, I'm his kid."

Andy smiled at how defensive she was of her father's name. "Sorry, you just reminded me of my friend, Marlene, she's a daughter of Mars, too."

Clarisse nodded, she'd met Marlene Thomas. She was easily the smallest of the Ares bunch. Clarisse hadn't been so sure of her at first, but she'd seen her in the arena, she was good, _insanely_ good.

Andy sighed morosely. "I suppose I'll have to retrain my body again, that'll be fun," she muttered sarcastically, but a smile slipped onto her lips as she grinned at Clarisse, "Want to beat me into shape?"

Clarisse's grin was all the answer she needed. Andy struggled to sit up, but Clarisse pushed her gently back into the covers.

"Whoa, girlie," she warned. "You're not strong enough-"

"Think that's going to stop her?" a new voice asked and both girls turned to see Marlene. She must have just come from the arena, because she was wearing light battle armor, sweat clinging to her face, and sporting a new scrape on her jaw.

She pulled out her ponytail, hiking her bright red hair further up on her head. "Everyone's settled in," she informed her old friend, before admitting, "well, almost everyone." At Andy's curious look, she elaborated, "Carmella spent the night at her dad's place."

Andy winced. "And here I thought she wasn't into self-inflicted pain."

Marlene snorted, pulling out a golden knife and poking out looked like pegasus turd from the underside of her shoe. "That's what I said, but you know how she is." Marlene glanced at Andy's face and cleared her throat. "Um, while you were gone, we had the shroud burnings," she told her quietly. "We decided to burn Winter's privately...she wouldn't have wanted much of a fuss."

Andy pressed her lips together firmly, but she couldn't stop the other two from seeing the sorrow in her eyes. She forced a smile onto her lips. "You're right," she said at last. "Winter would have hated the attention. I'm sorry I couldn't make it."

Clarisse gave her an appraising look when she wasn't looking; she was stronger than she looked.

"Winter would have understood," Marlene said, her voice slightly strained. "Anyways, I talked to some of the Apollo kids, and they think it would be a good idea if walked around a little, it might help the healing process."

"Thank the Gods," Andy sighed, swinging her legs off the cot, taking Marlene's hands and pulling herself into a standing position so fast that stars swam before her eyes. She had to open and shut her eyes several times before she could see clearly once more. Marlene handed her a pair of crutches, for which Andy was grateful.

"Let's go find Carmella before she makes a scene, shall we?" Andy suggested, sounding very British, per usual.

The daughters of the war god shared a laugh and followed the limping girl out.

"No way in _hell_!" Carmella was growling, glaring at Cabin Ten and Chiron. "I would not sleep there unless I wanted to _die_ of _excess perfume inhalation_!"

Several campers had gathered around as she had spoken, and guffawed or gaped at the daughter of Venus -or Aphrodite as the Greeks knew her. Cabin Ten, Aphrodite's cabin, was not bad looking on the outside, but the inside... the inside was a whole different matter. The reek of perfume almost made Andy gag, and she could see pink walls strewn with famous actors and actresses and more fashionable clothes than she had ever seen in her lifetime.

"Please tell me that's some sort of morgue," she said repulsed, "and those smells are coming from dead bodies."

Carmella jumped a foot, but the campers laughed, well, the one's that weren't children of Aphrodite -who looked affronted and insulted.

"Andy!" she said, relief coloring her voice as she gazed at the previously daughter of the sea god. "Hi! You're up! How are you? How's your skin? It looks better! Arion said 'bye while you were asleep. Have you seen Percy? Have you seen Harry? Can I room with you?"

Andy blinked, her eyes moving in a straight line from left to right, as seeing what she was saying and trying to follow her friends rapid-fire train of thought. "Carmella," she finally said, her voice a touch strained, "exactly how much caffeine have you had today?"

"Not much," Carmella said, but her eyes were a little glazed that even Chiron was skeptical.

" _Not much_?" Callie repeated incredulously, having joined the queue outside Cabin Ten only moments before, just in time to hear Carmella's random tangent. "She drank the rest of your Butterbeer, Andy."

There was a collective " _Oh..."_ from those who had formerly been of Hecate House and understood just how addicting Butterbeer was.

"Drunk on caffeine...that is _exactly_ how I want to see you when I wake up," Andy said, her lips twitching with humor. "Now all I have to do is see if it makes you a better fighter or an easy kill."

"Only one way to find out!" Carmella said cheerfully, having completely forgotten about her anger towards the cabin before her as she dropped her bag, linked arms with a protesting Marlene and proceeded to march her towards the fighting arena.

Andy watched them go before giving a soft sigh. "Well, I'm going for a swim," she decided aloud, and taking her crutches she limped towards the dock, disappearing under the surf.

* * *

Underwater one can easily lose track of time, after all, it is much calmer below-surface, than above. Nothing but the fish and the naiads to see, and it was purely by accident that Andy fell asleep in the sediments that made up the lowest layer of the lake. When she awoke she wasn't sure how much time had passed; only that sand had piled up around her, sifted through the water. The water had cooled her skin so that the burns had finally faded, but the memories hadn't. She still remembered how the white-hot heat had enveloped her, burning her from the inside out, turning her blood into fire and her bones into ash. It wasn't a sort of pain one would forget overnight, but it had been her idea to force Jupiter's hand.

Slowly, she dug herself out of her pile of sand, shooting up until she face broke through the water to taste the air.

She could feel the air shift around her, lifting her from the water to hang in the fresh wind before dropping onto the wooden dock. It was dark, but she was a bit confused as to whether it was morning or night.

"Nice swim?" a pleasant voice asked and Andy glanced up to meet the bright blue laughing eyes of Hermes, the Messenger of the Gods.

Andy's only answer was her wide yawn, scrubbing her eyes of the moisture that collected there from the yawn.

"What time is it?" she asked tiredly.

 _Eight thirty-seven_ , a small voice hissed from Hermes' transfigured caduceus -George, she deduced, judging by the masculine tone.

"Thanks, George," she said with an exhausted smile.

 _You hear that, Martha?_ George told his companion snake smugly. _She told me 'thank you'._

Martha hissed angrily.

Hermes held out a hand and she gratefully took it, hoisting herself into a standing position.

"Mercury," she said calmly, not referring to the god as lord, because last time she had done so, an airborne race had ensued with Hermes shouting profanity at the daughter of Neptune, waving his caduceus at the girl who flew frantically for her life, "it's nice to see you."

"It's nice to see you alive," Hermes returned easily. "How was your fall from grace?"

"Fine," she said humorlessly. Even if her burns had healed, her muscles still ached. "Are you here for business or pleasure, Mercury?" Her fall had apparently rattled her memory, because, after she had gotten so good at telling the difference between the Greek and Roman forms of the gods, she was back to square one, a mainly Roman square.

He winked. "A bit of both my dear cousin," she quirked a pale eyebrow at that, but said nothing, "firstly: business!"

His George-and-Martha cell phone glowed brightly for a few moments, but then the glow faded, revealing an electronic signature pad.

Andy stared at it, then back at him, her face slightly incredulous. "I have mail?" she asked doubtfully, but she took the pad all the same and signed it with a flourish. In exchange, Hermes handed her several envelopes and a small box, but she didn't pay much attention to them.

"If it means anything," Hermes said softly, "you have my deepest condolences-"

"I can't think about that," Andy interrupted, her eyes sparkling with tears once again as she bit the insides of her cheeks to silence the sobs threatening to burst forth. "If I think about her I'll start crying, and Romans do not cry!" Her voice steadily rose as finished her shaky statement.

Hermes pulled out a white handkerchief with a golden caduceus sewn into a corner and curled her fingers around the soft fabric. "You are not stone, daughter of Neptune," he reminded her gently. "Even Romans cannot completely cut themselves off from their emotions, not matter how hard they try. Sometimes, crying is good for the soul."

Her green eyes were dark and sad. "Have you ever cried in front of anyone?"

Hermes chuckled. "Oh, many times, cousin," he responded lightly, "for gods feel loss as keenly as mortals."

It was so easy to forget just how old the gods were; with the way they acted, they were very ingrained in the twenty-first century, at least the ones that interacted most with society –Athena, Artemis, and Hermes, just to name a few. The gods had been having children and watching them die for centuries, it was worse than any flesh wound.

"Now," Hermes continued, "I'm sure you have a breakfast to get to, so…" Andy hardly had time to blink before he had vanished completely from her sight, leaving her staring blankly ahead.

"Andrea Johnson, a little lost are we?"

Andy turned, slightly startled by the new voice, paling drastically when she caught sight of the dark purple –so much darker than Carmella's, like wine- eyes and curly black hair.

" _This won't hurt a bit," a sadistic voice whispered. "Now hold still, young demigod_ …"

Then she blinked, sighing in relief when she realized it wasn't who she thought it to be. Though, in the back of her mind she knew it couldn't be him, after all she'd killed him when she was eight.

"Lord Bacchus," she breathed, forcing a tight smile onto her face, but it came out more as a bit of a grimace, "I didn't see you there."

Dionysus narrowed his dark eyes at the girl. He knew who it was that she had seen, he always knew. The daughter of Poseidon (as it would be unwise to mention her Roman blood, though, there would be a problem with learning Greek, since she and her friends were hardwired for Latin…but another time) had only one true fear, a fear that had haunted her since she had done that mission for Camp Jupiter at the tender age of seven. The quest itself was a success, but the effect it had on her…well, it was troubling to say the least. Andy might be the only half-blood that Dionysus wasn't incredibly annoyed with for being alive, but that was probably stemming from the incident.

He watched her stride past him confidently, but he could see how her legs were still shaking.

Andy's bare toes crushed grass underneath her feet as she walked slowly towards the Dining Pavilion. She tried to slow her rapid heartbeat because it was starting to hurt her now.

"He's dead," she whispered feverishly to herself, her fingers sparking nervously. "You can't keep freaking out every time you see his father."

A gust of warm air was blown threw her lips as she finally came into view of the Pavilion, her knuckles white over what Hermes had given her. Most of the tables were bulging with campers, like Apollo and Hermes, but only one had two people. She could see people giving Harry curious looks as he told his young uncle a story, using his hands a lot as he talked –something he had no doubt picked up from his aunt-, but she wasn't quite sure why. His bespectacled green eyes shifted to the entrance again, like they jumped there every five minutes, and when he saw her, a huge, beaming smile erupted on his lips.

"Aunty!" he yelled, racing to her and leaping into her arms, just as she reached down to catch him.

Andy gave a faux-groan, wrapping her arms tightly about him as his arms locked behind her neck. "Oh, _dolce nipote_ (sweet nephew), you are getting too old for such moves."

"I'll never be too old, _Zia_ (Aunty)," he told her solemnly, using one of the few Italian words he knew; Andy had started teaching the language to him, but had been sidetracked by her sudden kidnapping. " _Ti voglio bene, zia_ (I love you, Aunty)."

"That was almost perfect," Andy whispered, her heart in her throat. "I love you, too."

"Uncle Percy loves you too," Harry told her when the pair released each other and Andy straightened up, catching Percy's eye as came up behind Harry. The whole camp seemed to be waiting on bated breath for something to happen. "He's just a little upset."

Andy smiled down at him, running an olive hand through his wild hair. "I know. Go finish your breakfast."

Harry's eyes shifted between the two children of the sea god, but finally he complied, though still keeping a steady eye on the pair.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was, what I was," Andy began, well aware of just how many eyes were on her, and started to ramble, "but I was forbidden by the Council of the Gods, and Father would have had my head if I'd somehow gotten you killed, and Mum would be a wreck, and I think I've been a _terrible_ sister-"

Her rapid flow of words came to a sudden stop when Percy hugged her.

"You haven't _been_ a terrible sister," he told her quietly. "It's not allowed."

Andy gave a choked laugh, wiping her eyes as they parted.

"But if you ever lie about something that big again," he continued. "I'll kick your butt."

Andy gave him an appraising look, a slow smirk spreading across her face. "You can try, but you'll fail, Percy, because, remember: I've been a demigod longer than you."

"Says the person who was a flaming comet yesterday?" Percy responded with an identical smirk.

There was a pause.

"I hate you," Andy decided, sulking.

"Love you, too, little sister."

Andy's eye twitched. _Brothers…_


	14. The Deal

_No one suspects._

Those were the words etched into the letter the precise color of storm clouds. When she'd gone up to get food, she'd taken the time to toss the paper into the fire. No one would know about the message, and the spy would think they had manipulated her; that was the plan. And it had succeeded.

She spent the rest of breakfast in good spirits, chatting animatedly with her nephew and brother and Grover (who could sit wherever he wanted since he was a fau-satyr). All of her hard work had gone down the drain, and now everything was back to Roman names and Latin phrases. Even Percy noticed, and that was saying something.

"Why is everything Roman to you?" he asked her, swallowing a large slice of meat with difficulty.

Andy raised an eyebrow. "Why is everything _Greek_ to you?" she snarked back. "I dunno, Perce, I'm just programmed differently from you; I can't even _read_ Ancient Greek."

Grover gaped at her. "You're kidding?!" After all the talks the pair had had, he had no idea that she wasn't fluent in Greek.

She raised her cup of blue apple cider (hey, it ran in the family) to her lips and took a long swig. "I'm hardwired for Latin, _tesoro_ (sweetheart)," she responded easily, weaving the truth with some lies. "Lots of demigods are like that."

"I've never heard of them," Grover refuted.

Andy chuckled darkly. "Then you haven't traveled enough, _amante della terra_ (earth lover)," she said smoothly.

"Amana-what-now?"

" _Amante della terra_ ," Andy repeated impatiently and with a sigh, "it means 'earth lover' in Italian."

Percy speared a grape with his fork. "I'd almost forgotten you were fluent in Italian; if you weren't so British, you'd probably have an accent."

"Probably," she agreed mildly, using the knife next to her to slice open one of her envelopes. The piece of parchment within the envelope was small, with only three words etched across it in Latin ( _Gratias tibi ago_ ) quickly rearranging themselves into: _Thank you_. She smiled and peered into the envelope, smiling brighter when she caught sight of the small seeds of Moonlace.

"What is it?" Harry asked curiously as she poured the seeds back into the envelope.

"Just a gift from a nymph I won't be able to see anymore," Andy said simply, her smile turning slightly melancholic.

"I thought nymphs could go wherever they like," Percy said in confusion. The ones at Camp Half-Blood certainly did.

"Not this one," Andy remarked, her voice slightly desolate to match her smile. "She lives on an island that you can't find unless you're a god, usually, or very, _very_ lost."

"Sucks," Percy winced.

"You have _no idea_ ," she muttered under her breath, breaking the wax seal of a down-turned torch on the pure white letter. "Oh, look, _Nipotino_ (little nephew)," she drawled. "Your granddad's sent me something."

"Granddad?" Percy asked. "You mean Dad?"

"No, not Father," Andy said with a casual wave of her hand. "Harry's a legacy of Letus," she winced before quickly correcting herself, "you know, Thanatos?"

"A legacy?" Grover asked, before sniffing hard. His eyes widened. "Oh! I didn't notice before! The salt water smell overpowers it."

"Overpowers what?" Percy asked blankly.

Harry smirked so much like Andy (and by extension, him) it was almost scary. "The smell of death."

His uncle goggled at him as if he'd never seen anything quite like him in his whole life. " _What?!_ You're _Hades-?!"_

Harry and Andy burst into laughter (it was funny how his thoughts automatically jumped to Hades, even though she had just said he was of Thanatos' blood), drawing a lot of attention from the other campers, but they didn't seem notice.

" _Sweet Venus_!" Andy crowed, her bright eyes filled with mirth. "You didn't think there was only _one_ death god, let alone one underworld god, did you?"

"Yes," Percy said honestly.

Harry looked dismayed, so much that Grover had to chuckle, but Andy gave a short bark of laughter. She didn't know how much she sounded like her step-brother.

"Of course, Pluto- _gah!-_ I mean Hades! Of course, Hades is the big man downstairs, as he's the god of the dead and King of the Underworld, but there's a lot more minor gods than you would think."

"Really?" Percy asked in surprise.

Andy nodded sagely. "You've probably seen them at one time or another," she jerked her head towards the Hermes table, "like with Merc- Hermes offspring."

"What d'you mean?"

"Alright," she said with a sigh, "do you see the pair with dark skin and black hair wearing black?"

Percy nodded. They took dark to a whole new level.

"That's Aurora Sommer and Orion Lune, son and daughter of Nyx, goddess of the night-deadly in combat."

"Really?" a new voice asked, and Andy realized she now had the attention of one Annabeth Chase who had approached the Poseidon Table now that her breakfast had concluded. Campers weren't allowed to switch tables, but Annabeth wasn't touching the table, so she wasn't technically breaking the rules. "How so?"

Another smirk lit her lips. "I suppose they're well enough with the blade, but if you've ever had to fight blindfolded, in solid darkness, well, let's just say it's a bit daunting."

A thousand different scenarios raced through Annabeth's mind. To blind your opponent was great asset…

"Of course, they have to practice at it," she admitted, "at the moment they can only handle blinding one or two people at a time, but it's a great skill to have."

"Very," Annabeth agreed.

"Continuing on with my lecture," Andy said, "Nyx spends her time in the Underworld, where it is darkest, with her husband, Erebus, god of darkness, and is regarded as an underworld goddess. Then you've got Hecate, goddess of magic, witchcraft, and crossroads. Lou Ellen's her daughter –see that girl with brown hair and black highlights?- and…wait a second…" Andy turned to Harry, a completely dumbfounded look on her face. "What's Angie doing here? I thought she would have gone back with the others."

Harry shrugged, swallowing his toast with difficulty (he was starting to hate the healthy food; maybe Aunty could spell them into something more filling). "I think she said something about having no reason to go back," he said frowning as he tried to recall what the girl had said, but everything was fuzzy. It was a bit fortunate that Andy had called in a favor with Mnemosyne, the reclusive Titan of Memory, making sure that Greeks did not know about the Romans and the Romans did not know about the Greeks. There was no worry that she would reveal anything, but her friends had had to swear on the River Styx to remain silent. She did not approve of memory wipes, but sometimes –as Mnemosyne said- it was deemed necessary. And when Harry went to Hogwarts there would be a mild Confundus charm in place, since the number of Romans was greater than Greeks at the magical establishment; Romans would hear Roman names and Latin words, while Greeks would hear Greek names and Ancient Greek.

"Hm…" was all Andy said to that, tapping her finger against her lips, her eyes cloudy with thought. "Angelina Johnson," she explained to the other three, "she's a daughter of Hecate as well, I just hadn't expected her to stay- her younger sister was killed in a fire several days ago."

They nodded in understanding as death was commonplace in the lives of demigods.

"Thanatos," she continued from her forgotten conversation, "is the god of peaceful death, basically the Grim Reaper in popular culture, and Hades' Lieutenant, but what you really have to look out for are the Keres."

"Keres…" Annabeth repeated, mentally rifling through all the godly knowledge she had, "aren't they the personification of violent death?"

"Pretty much," Andy agreed. "They're Thanatos' antithesis –basically his polar opposite- with poisoned claws, definitely something to avoid, _cara_ (darling)," she warned her nephew. "They'll probably be gunning for you since you're descended from their immortal rival."

Harry nodded seriously. "But it's not like I'm going to be spending much time in the Underworld," he replied with a sort of irritated huff.

Andy pressed a kiss to his dark hair, ruffling his locks affectionately. Throwing an arm over his shoulders, she winked at the three across from them. "He gets that sharp tongue from me," she said proudly.

They laughed and snorted at her proclamation, and Harry gave his aunt an affronted look, identical to Andy's in every way, making Andy laugh as he threw her arm off him, his pale cheeks flushed with heat.

"A lot of the unclaimed kids are children of minor gods and goddesses," she explained (she was really getting sidetracked, wasn't she?), "like Iris, Hecate, Hypnos, Hebe, Persephone, and Nike, but then, there are quite a few minor gods and goddesses who chose not to consort with mortals."

Andy blushed at the impressed looks the others gave her, her eyes dropping to the letter written in complete Italian.

 _Dear Granddaughter_ ("I'm not your granddaughter, you ass," she once told him),

 _It has come to my attention that you are no longer a goddess; congratulations_ (Her eyes twitched at how heavily laced with sarcasm that word was, even though it looked no different than the words before it _). However, this is not a courtesy call; I require your presence as soon as you may be spared. Regulus Black, your step-brother, has requested to speak with you concerning a family matter. This is not the only reason I insist that you descend into the Underworld once more; Walburga Black has insisted that she speak with you_ (Andy barely suppressed the growl that threatened to burst from her lips, and she did not suppress it the second time when she read the next line).

_Refusal is not an option._

It went unsigned.

"Aunty?"

"It's nothing, _cara_ (darling)," she responded quickly. "Your granddad wants me to go to the Underworld to speak with my step-mum and brother."

"I can go with you," the nine-year-old grandson of Poseidon suggested, his green eyes, large and innocent, peering into hers. Sometimes it seemed like aunt and nephew had the same color, but often Andy's eyes weren't as bright and deep as her brother's or her nephew's, sometimes they were cold, dark emeralds, sometimes they were stormy like a hurricane, and sometimes they were like shards of ice, reflecting so many different emotions that she never expressed. They weren't cold –only Carmella could talk to her when that happened without fear of losing a limb-, they weren't reflective, and they weren't bright. They were positively stormy. "Granddad says he likes to see me-"

"I'd like it better if you didn't," Andy told him heavily. "It's a business call; you wouldn't get to speak with your granddad, anyways."

"I'll go with you."

Andy wasn't the only who stared at Percy. "Er…Percy, you _do_ realize you'd be going back to the place where Mum was kidnapped?"

An irritated look was her only answer.

"Fine, fine," she muttered, conceding as she picked up the small packaged box. Her fingers fumbled with the twine tie, before ripping the brown paper from the package to reveal a rather simple blue colored box. She opened the lid, pulling out the first thing she saw; a small trunk. It had obviously been miniaturized, because Andy recognized the numerous godly symbols her mortal friend had painted on it; a trident, crossed swords, SPQR in a laurel wreath, Greek fire, and a dozen other images that made it clear that she had turned Andy's trunk into her personal drawing board. All the kids at the Hecate House had similar trunks that were enchanted to protect the owner's possessions, but in the fire that had destroyed the Hecate House the most the majority of the kids had were their magical items and a couple outfits. Andy's (of course) was charmed differently from the rest, since she had been the head (technically) of Hecate House, so in case of distress, all the magical items and weapons disappeared right into its depths…which meant some kids were looking for their weapons. She grimaced.

"Hey, Harry," she said lightly, "want to do a supply run for me?"

"Supply run?" Harry asked inquisitively.

"Yup," Andy agreed. "When Percy and I leave, I'm going to need you to deliver some weapons…I'm sure some kids are missing them."

"Sure!" Harry bobbed his head agreeably. He liked it when his aunt trusted him to do things on his own, not many people did that for an eight-almost-nine-year-old.

"Are you _sure_ you want to go down to the Underworld?" Annabeth asked, concern marring her brow.

Andy waved her off, disregarding her words. "Oh, don't worry," she scoffed. "I used to go down to Hades' palace a lot during the winter months…Persephone is brilliant at card games," she mused.

Grover couldn't help it when his jaw dropped. "You play card games with the goddess of springtime?" he asked incredulously.

"And I _never_ win!" she complained, for once sounding her age. "What the _hell_ is up with that?!"

Percy snickered at her swear, but Annabeth looked less than impressed. Andy ignored them pulling a very familiar cloth bag that had been haphazardly stuffed into the box, grinning, hiding just how relieved she was to have the pouch back in her possession; it was one of those things she never wanted to lose (though now she was thinking about replacing it with a sturdier bag), a symbol of her childhood. It was very much worn and she doubted the seams could handle much more, even with the extension charm. She thrust her hand so deep into the bag that Annabeth found herself checking the bottom of the table to see where her arm had gone, but it hadn't gone through the wood.

"How are you doing that?" she asked both confused and filled with wonder.

"Extension charm," Andy grunted, the tips of her fingers brushing up just rounded, glass bottles, the delicate spines of aged books, the cool metal that made up her 'charm bracelet of weapons' –as her friends liked to call it- (she kept a grip on that), before finally catching the carefully carved wood of her wand and pulling them out.

"Extension charm?" Annabeth repeated faintly.

Andy couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. "What? Just because the gods are real doesn't mean that magic isn't. I'm a witch, like Carmella, and Angelina."

Somehow, to someone who was so used to mythology being real, magic was an even stranger impossibility.

A pair of green eyes stared at her, as their owner gaped. "I didn't know you could use magic!"

A sheepish look appeared on Andy's face. "Guilty." Her fingers roved over the smooth and beautifully painted wood. "Willow, ten and a quarter inches, with a core of Nereid and Thestral hair," she said proudly.

They gave her odd looks.

"What?"

Andy didn't realize they didn't speak 'witch' and had no idea what a wand was or even a Thestral was.

She rolled her eyes at them, pulling a phone in a blue case out of the box, barely glancing at the screen as she stuffed it her pocket.

"You lot ask a lot of questions," she observed, raising a delicate snow-colored eyebrow, "or should I say…you interrogate?"

Annabeth blushed, Grover's ears reddened as he scratched his cheek sheepishly, and Percy gave her an innocent look, which she didn't buy; she'd used it far too many times to fall for it.

She flicked him in the nose.

" _Ow_!" Percy complained. "What was that for?"

"Being you," Andy said simply.

Percy glared, but Annabeth smirked and Harry giggled behind his hands.

"Annabeth," she said, directing the attention of Athena's daughter to the daughter her mother's arch nemesis, "can I ask you a serious girl question?"

The grey-eyed girl ignored the screwed up faces of her friends. "Sure."

She fastened her orbs on the older girl and asked with no humor in her voice, "Exactly how bad is my hair?"

Annabeth's lips twitched as Grover and Percy laughed outright and Harry burst into giggles again. She glared but without the ever-present eyeliner, Andy Jackson looked far less intimidating and Annabeth took the time to look her over completely.

The hair wasn't that bad, considering how hot she had burned when she fell from Olympus (and immortality); apart from the bad haircut –which seemed to suit her more than longer hair- and the singed tips, she looked fine.

"Not that bad," she told her, and she meant it.

Andy's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she didn't press the issue.

* * *

"Are you _sure_ you know where you're going?"

Andy pursed her lips, her fingers sparking and twitching as she strangled him in her mind, only giving her a small release of annoyance as they waded through the Asphodel Fields. "Of course I know where I'm going," she said in disdain, "I'm the only one you know who doesn't mind coming down here."

"Wonder why…" Percy muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" she snapped, her eyes flashing dangerously, but then a sour look quickly replaced it.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked, concerned by her sudden shift in mood.

"I sound just like her," she said tartly, ducking her head and shaking it in dismay. " _Bloody fantastic_!"

"Who?" Percy asked blankly.

"Walburga Black," she said sourly. "My step-mother. Let's just say there's a reason I've got such an _explosive_ temper."

"Indeed, Miss Jackson," a melodious, but detached voice commented, "one might say that temper was of your own creation."

"Lord Thanatos," Andy said grudgingly as she stared at the god that had suddenly appeared before her, not bothering to admire his eye-catching appearance. Percy was not so subtle; he was openly staring at the death god's physique. Andy supposed he was rather beautiful, but he wasn't _Italian_ and Italian –in her opinion- was _hot_ (and that was not purely because of Nico, no matter what her friends thought) _._ His skin was a dark amber, he had eyes the precise shade of molten gold, hair as black as a raven's wings, and wings fluttering gently behind him in the open wind, the feathers a blend of black, purple, and blue. The way Percy was gaping at the god reminded Andy uncomfortably of the first time she had met the god (calling him Letus at the time), he had taken her breath away and she was struck silly by his appearance, his beauty. There had been something unattainable that had reminded her of marble statues; cold to the touch and detached from the world. She had to admit the only time she had seen real emotion was when she had once brought Harry down to see him. "I disagree."

"You would," the winged god agreed. "Now if you would follow me…"

Andy linked fingers with Percy and they dutifully raced after him, so fast that Percy could have sworn Andy's feet weren't even touching the ground. Grains of wheat brushed against their legs as they came closer to what looked like two simple wooden chairs that seemed to have sprouted out of the ground. One was already filled. She was an older woman with heavily grey streaked black hair and her eyes were blue with same cold look Andy got when she was mad. So this was Walburga Black. She was not the sort of person one would expect to kidnap a child of a god.

"Shoulders back, Andromeda," she barked out the second Andy sat down (Percy made sure to stay behind her chair, just in case she tried to strangle her step-mother). "I will not have you fouling our good name with your _atrocious_ manners!"

"Well, it's not really my name, is it, _Mother_?" Andy returned mockingly, her voice filled with scorn, but she reflexively straightened her back. "How was your time in the Fields of Punishment?"

This was what Andy's friends and family liked to call 'Dark Andy', when she became the bitingly sarcastic, foul-mouthed, _pissed off_ girl that wasn't normally seen. Percy hadn't known there were as many swears as the ones she used, but, then again, Andy went out of her way to come up with creative curses, though, they were mostly either Italian, Latin, or English.

Now that Percy saw her in person, he could see certain similarities between step-mother and step-daughter; the way they formed words was near identical, the same posture (despite how Andy tried to break from it), and they had the same regal, aristocratic air about them.

Walburga's eyes were weary and she had more wrinkles than Andy remembered her having, no doubt from the Fields of Punishment, and was it her imagination or did she actually look pleased to see her?...Probably her imagination.

Walburga chose not to respond to that spiteful question, her eyes hungrily studying Andy.

"The spirit of the ocean still shines brightly in you," she admitted grudgingly, "your father must be proud."

"I wouldn't know," Andy said coolly, "I speak more with the twins than I do my father."

The twins? Percy frowned in thought; was she talking about Artemis and Apollo, the twin archers?

"Trouble in paradise?" Walburga asked mildly.

Andy didn't rise to the bait, but Percy could see how her shoulders tensed briefly; she wasn't unfeeling as she tried to be perceived as.

"I'm only here because Lord Thanatos asked me-"

"Is this your brother?" the woman asked, her eyes glittering malevolently. Her gaze made Percy uncomfortable; he understood why Andy didn't like to talk about her. Seeing the woman who had kidnapped his baby sister made all his anger of the incident bubble to the surface. This woman was the reason he lost her in the first place. He glared darkly at her.

Andy growled in a distinctly wolf-like manner that only surprised Percy. "Why did you want me here?" she snarled.

Walburga's azure orbs snapped to her with a look that made Percy instantly hate her -even more than he already did; he'd seen that look on a lot of his teachers when they looked at him, like they were superior and thought he should be able to work things out without their help (like they had anything better to do with their time).

"I just thought you would like to know why I took you from your mother when you were a new born," Walburga said with an air of faux-innocence, like she'd done nothing wrong.

Andy's crossed arms were pulled tighter into her ribs –no doubt causing her pain, but she didn't seem to notice- before flinging her right leg over her left with a "Well?" look.

Walburga was much too dignified to roll her eyes at the girl she had once adopted into her family. "I didn't ever love you, girl," she warned the impertinent demigod –and what in Merlin's name had she done to her hair? Good lord, the child needed to be kept away from anything that went against her ideology- "no need to go getting any foolish ideas."

She saw a flicker of something in Andy's jade depths, but it was gone so fast, she was sure she'd imagined it.

"I assumed so," Andy said hollowly, "but I must give you credit for being such a _wonderful_ actress." Andy hoped she caught the heavy sarcasm, but she didn't comment.

"I haven't done nearly as many bad things in my life as my husband, Orion," she told the white-haired demigod, "but I've done enough bad to earn myself a couple decades in the Fields of Punishment. Normally, witches don't worry about such things, especially pure blood witches, but the Black family has long been descended from the goddess of love herself."

"Which is why the Black family has the most documented number of metamorphmagi in its tree," Andy theorized, having studied the family tree at one time or another.

Walburga nodded, inwardly pleased that the girl was being so subjective; she had never handled emotional children well. "Being of godly blood, one must think about godly hell," she said, "and that was when it truly dawned upon just how bad a life I lived." Andy didn't even bother hiding the snort that escaped her lips. "I prayed for guidance, and it was Nemesis who answered my call."

This time it was a strangled sound that escaped Andy's throat. " _Nemesis_?" she croaked. She had never been on good terms with the goddess, even before the poisoning that her son had participated in.

Percy's brow crinkled with thought; he didn't know Greek myths that well, and he wasn't sure he'd heard of Nemesis.

"She offered me a way to lessen my sentence," the former Lady Black explained.

"By kidnapping _Poseidon's daughter_?" Percy said in disgust.

"By raising Poseidon's daughter," Walburga corrected, leaning forward slightly in her chair so her eyes –which had drifted momentarily to Percy when he spoke- met Andy's once more. "You and I both know if you had been raised Greek, you would have never lived this life, you would have died much sooner than now. I raised you to become a heroine."

Andy's expression was understandably wintery. " _Lupa_ ," she said with thinly veiled anger, "raised me to be a heroine. I barely saw you, but you liked it better that way, didn't you, Walburga?"

Walburga's lips twitched and Andy wondered if there had ever been a decent bone in her body and why she had been so naïve as a child, not to see the cruelty before her.

" _And there she shall sit on her icy throne_

_Filled with such admiration for death and the unknown_

_Cursed by the gods, yet blessed by the Dove_

_For a second time she is given to be with her love_

_Touched by Death, yet still walks the Earth_

_Unaware when she will be ripped from her Hearth_

_Safety gone, far from the place of her birth_

_Child of the sea, scorned by the blood of gods_

_Who has beaten all the odds_

_Daughter of the ocean by her very breath_

_At last with her lover of death,_ " she recited from memory, watching as Andy's face went blank, her eyes positively dark, before Thanatos returned her the Fields of Punishment.

"Andy?" Percy's gentle touch to her shoulder jarred her back to the present. "Are you alright?"

Andy pinched the bridge of her nose, hunching slightly forward. Percy could see how her shoulders trembled with suppressed sobs, but when she straightened up, her eyes were dry.

"Modern day torture," she muttered mutinously, curling a blue lock of hair around her finger, "that's what this is, you know. Now I wish she was alive just so I could kill her."

Percy's smile was a bit on the wry side.

"I hate my life," Andy complained, fiddling with something that looked strangely like a wedding ring but it was too dark to be considered one, "why couldn't I have been raised like a _normal_ witch?"

A snicker escaped Percy's lips. "I don't see how 'normal' and 'witch' go together."

Being very mature, Andy stuck out her tongue at her elder brother when a new voice interrupted them. "Pardon me, but are you Andromeda?"

"Just Andy," Andy corrected automatically. The man before her was young with similar aristocratic features to Walburga; sharp cheekbones, a strong jaw, and deep set eyes. His face was one she had seen repeatedly in her childhood; she could never mistake those grey eyes and wavy black locks as anyone except Regulus Black. "Regulus?" she assumed.

The youth smiled shyly. "Yes, that would be me. I told Lord Thanatos I wished to speak with you…you are not what I expected."

Andy –unlike her step-mother- didn't restrain her eye roll. "Don't worry _, tesoro_ (sweetheart)," she drawled, "I get that a lot."

His dark eyebrows inched up his forehead. "You're Italian?" he asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Is that really relevant?" Andy returned, but her lips were twitching slightly. She liked the son more than she liked the mother.

"No, not really," Regulus admitted, his pale eyes drifting to Percy. "Who're you?" he asked curiously.

"I'm Andy's brother," Percy explained, hoping this 'Regulus' wasn't at all like his mother, "Percy."

A wistful expression clouded his eyes. "My brother and I were once as close as you two...but certain differences set us apart."

"Because Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor?" Andy guessed. She knew all about Sirius Black, about how he had betrayed her sister and her husband.

"You have a brother named _Serious_?" Percy interrupted, surprise and mirth in his voice.

Regulus gave a rusty chuckle. "An odd name for my prankster brother, I can assure you, but it was a family name, and he is the third Sirius Black in the family." Regulus' eyes turned on Andy again. "My brother's still alive isn't he?"

"If you can call it that," Andy muttered, before elaborating to the confused young man. "Sirius Black was sentenced to Azkaban after October 31 of 1998," she said slowly, "right after he sold out my half-sister, Lily Evans, her husband, James Potter, and my nephew, Harry, to Voldemort."

Percy had never heard the name 'Voldemort' before, but he could tell by the way she said it with such contempt, the way Regulus' ghostly pallor deepened, and the way the shades around them skittered away nervously.

"That's a lie!" Regulus refuted, standing up suddenly, fire in his transparent eyes. "James and Sirius were like _brothers_! Sirius would never follow _him_ like I did!"

Andy's eyes flicked towards the tattoo partially transparent on his arm, the one of a serpent winding around a skull. "I remember Walburga talking about you bringing pride to the Black name by serving Lord Voldemort."

Percy's brow furrowed in confusion, but he thought it was better not to interrupt.

"Thanatos said you wanted to speak about a family matter," Andy added, "I'm guessing you'd already heard something about Sirius' imprisonment."

Regulus' lips thinned. "Down here most information is rumor, but I had to be sure. My brother wouldn't do what he is accused of, he loved James far too much...they were the brothers we should have been." Andy thought it best not to comment on the bitterness he still held. "I know what my mother did was wrong, but please, as the last of the Blacks you must see that he gets a fair trial, its what he deserves."

His ghostly form wavered and for a moment Percy could see a young man with dark hair and grey eyes full of fire but so different from Annabeth's.

"I'll look into it," she promised after a long moment.

Regulus relaxed. "I suppose that's the best I can expect," he said with a bit of relief.

Andy stood giving a very respectful bow. "Thank you, Regulus Arcturus Black for your exemplary services to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black."

Regulus cracked a smile. "Death Rites of Noble Families…never had them performed…but thank you, it means a lot to me."

"You're welcome," Andy said simply as the pair stood.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Andro- Andy, and you as well, Percy," he added.

"You should try for reincarnation, Regulus," Andy said. "You've certainly done enough work to earn it."

Percy could see the gears churning behind his silver eyes. "I'll make you a deal, Andy," he finally said. " _I'll_ try for rebirth, if _you_ look into Sirius' incarceration. Sincerely."

Andy's eyes glittered and she gave him a smile. "All right," she said. "deal."


	15. Adjustment

Clarisse couldn't help but be amused as she watched Andy Jackson-Black circle the camp, lagging far behind the rest of the Ares crew. Her cheeks were redder than cherries and her streaked hair was pulled away from her sweaty face. Every time Clarisse circled her, she could hear a steady stream of curses punctuated by gasps for air and repetitive "I hate my life"s escaping her mouth. When their laps finally ended, Andy collapsed onto the ground, splaying across the grass.

"You know," she rasped, her breath ragged with exhaustion, "when they…talk about…letting yourself…go, they…mean _really_ …letting yourself…go!"

Clarisse chuckled darkly. "Guess being a god has a down side after all."

"Hell of a downside!" Andy complained, sitting up and accepting the water Clarisse handed her, pouring the water down her parched throat, and thumping her chest as if trying to slow down her heart manually. "Oh, I should have _never_ gone godly!"

Marlene burst into a series of loud giggles as Andy struggled into a standing position, but after flopping back onto the ground, she gave up.

"Aeton!" she called, dismay coloring her voice. "Aeton, help!"

Several Ares campers had to dive out of the way of the young hellhound-wolf as he raced towards his mistress, giving the girl a sloppy kiss, making her hair stand on end.

Andy wrinkled her nose in disgust as the Ares campers sniggered (some a bit more cruelly than others) unabashedly. "Aeton!" she complained. "No kisse- _ow_!"

The overexcited hellhound had accidentally stepped on her still tender ribs.

"Not the ribs! Not _the ribs_!" she gasped, wrapping her arms around her stomach to shield said ribs from further injury. " _Dolce Venere (_ Sweet Venus)!"

Aeton, looking properly chastised, allowed her to use the scruff of his neck to pull herself into a standing position, groaning all the way.

"Man up, girlie," Clarisse grunted.

Andy arched an eyebrow at her friend's sister. "Have _you_ ever had a hellhound step on you?"

Her silence was the only answer Andy needed as she chuckled, hobbling like an old man, steadying herself by placing a hand on her familiar's back.

"Maybe you pushed yourself too far, Andy," Marlene suggested with a grimace, pulling her old friend's arm across her shoulders and wrapping an arm around her waist. "You should start off slow."

Andy pouted. Technically, she was still on medical leave, but Andy didn't like to stay in the hospital wing all day, that was just too _boring_ , so she'd been running some laps with the Ares crew. Dying was a more accurate term, if you asked her.

"I want to be back up to speed by Friday for Capture the Flag," Andy said sullenly as Marlene led her back into the Poseidon cabin. Andy thought the cabin had a beautiful, if lonely, feel to it, but she thought it was a bit small, because Harry was claustrophobic. She was going to ask Chiron if she could use an extension charm on the inside, but it kept slipping her mind. Marlene dumped her friend unceremoniously on the bed.

"Stay!" she warned, as if talking to dog which only made Andy more irate. "Work on that thing for Sirius, but no stress!"

Andy gave her the look of a sulky child who didn't get her way, but she did as she was told, flopping back onto her cushions and pulling her research towards her. However, before she could even start to fulfill Regulus' request, a soft knock interrupted her.

She glanced upwards to meet a pair of brown eyes, and for a second she thought it was Winter, but that was a foolish thought. Harry had seen her ghost, and that couldn't be faked. Andy squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again.

"Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter," she said, giving a very slight smile. "Hello."

"Um, hi," Katie said a little nervously, "do you mind if I come in?"

"Please."

Katie bounced slightly on the balls of her feet. "I'm-I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Thank you," Andy said quietly, waiting for her to finally say what she had come to say.

"I just, I wanted to talk to you about-about everything that happened," she said a bit rushed.

Andy arched an eyebrow and Katie blushed a beet red. "Why don't you ask what you really want to."

Katie had thought that diplomatic-style of speech had come from being a goddess, but apparently not. "Why me?" she asked finally. "You could have picked anyone here to go and find you, preferably a child of Ares or Hermes-"

"I could've," Andy said, interrupting her and sounding more like the almost-twelve year old that she was, "but you have very unique qualities, Child of the Earth."

"Because I can use Chlorokinesis?" Katie asked in a bit of disappointment.

Andy cocked her head slightly to the side. "It's a rare talent, one that is greatly desired, perhaps as much as my Cryokinesis, but that was not what I was referring to."

"It wasn't?"

"We all have traits that make us who we are," Andy mused. "Strength, Courage of Heart, Kindness, Understanding, Sorrow, Anger, Love, Pain, these all make us unique. You caught my eye by not being the typical demigod, by not tactically retreating when you found yourself without a weapon when you faced that Manticore. You fought with your bare hands on the front door of death, and it reminded me…" Her eyes grew distant as if she was remembering something long forgotten. She blinked hard, forcing herself back to the present. "What I mean is, you've got spunk and skill and a good heart."

She sounded much older, as if speaking the words of a wiser woman. A woman with dark hair and kind eyes. But once Katie blinked she was gone.

"I really need to get to work," Andy said, giving her a small grin, "I wouldn't want to disappoint my step-brother."

"I guess I'll leave you to it, then," Katie said, "and thank you, you know, for believing in me."

Andy smiled. "It wasn't too hard."

* * *

"Andy?" Annabeth called softly, knocking her fist gently against the grey door as she opened. "Andy, are you here?"

Andy was in no condition to answer, as she was fast asleep on her bed. Her pillows had been tucked against the corner, so her body was slanted with her leg thrown off the bed and papers and documents surrounded her in a cocoon of parchment.

Annabeth smiled; she looked adorable, actually appearing her age.

Carefully, so as not to disturb the slumbering girl, Annabeth lifted the two things that were flopped open on her lap: a notebook and a scrap book. Sitting down on the end of the bed that Andy's body wasn't sprawled over, Annabeth flipped the notebook open to the first page.

It was titled: _Giustizia o ingiustizia_ or Justice or injustice (Annabeth was very interested in Italy, mostly their architecture, but she had taken one year of the Italian language). _Ingiustizia_ was underlined. Underneath were a series of facts that all had one name in common; someone by the name of Sirius Black.

_Sirius Orion Black was born on November 3 of 1976 to Orion and Walburga Black._

_Attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1987 to 1994._

_Reinstated as Heir to the Black Family after his brother, Regulus' death, but then ceded to Andy Jackson, blood-adopted daughter of Walburga Black_ (Annabeth wondered how weird it was for Andy to refer to herself in third person).

_Notable accomplishments: unregistered animagus_

_Wand: eleven and a half inches, dragon heartstring, ash_

_Nickname: Padfoot_

_Was part of a group of prankster friends called the Marauders, including: James Potter (Prongs), Remus Lupin (Moony), and Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail)._

_Was named the godfather of Harry James Potter._

_Ran away from home at age sixteen._

_Was sorted into Gryffindor, while the rest of his family was and had always been sorted into Slytherin._

_Anti-Voldemort._

_On the night of October 31, 1998 after the death of James and Lily Potter, Peter Pettigrew chased down Sirius Black and shouted for the street (of muggles) to hear that he (Sirius) had betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort, Sirius blew apart the street and Pettigrew without using his wand, all that was left of Pettigrew was a finger._

_Sirius arrested, wand broken, and thrown in Azkaban_

She'd written the word circumstantial and circled it over and over again, along with: _No trial?!_

Then Andy began to stir, slightly stretching her limbs as she twisted her head to the side, more sensing than seeing. "Percy?" she mumbled. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"Oh, he is," Annabeth assured her, "it's just me."

"Hm?" Andy mumbled, her eyelids fluttering as they opened to reveal sleepy emerald orbs. "Annabeth? What're you doing here?"

"Checking on you," Annabeth returned with a snort. "You must _really_ be tired if you thought I was Percy."

She blinked several times and stared at Annabeth, unseeing, as if she could see right through the daughter of Athena. It was a bit unnerving. Then her expression cleared and she said intelligently, "Huh?"

Annabeth muffled another snort, instead tapping a finger to Andy's research. "What's all this?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing," Andy said both evasively and nonchalantly.

"This is a lot of information," Annabeth added in surprise, "where did you get it?"

"From Aphrodite," Andy admitted, though there was something distinctly off about her voice.

There was something about her voice that reminded Annabeth of Travis and Conner Stoll, sons of Hermes, and made her instantly on edge and suspicious. "You aren't planning a jail break, are you?"

A startled laugh escaped Andy's lips. "I wouldn't be nearly sneaky enough for that sort of thing," she assured her, her voice filled with humor, but her eyes were dark with pain and her smile was a bit cynical.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Annabeth asked finally, no longer referring to the notes that Andy had been scrawling for the better part of an hour. She remembered the information she had looked up on Winter's computer back in the hospital ward days upon days ago.

"I don't particularly like to talk about my feelings," Andy said, her voice disdainful. "I'm not much of a talker."

"Besides," a voice came from the door, "she hasn't talked about _that_ since she got those scars. You'd have better luck trying to get a cat to talk."

Andy glared at Callie without a trace of friendliness, her face pale with anger. The tension was building at an astounding rate between the pair, that Annabeth, who knew that her half-sister was best friends with Andy, was astounded. Callie clearly realized that she had overstepped her boundaries and muttered an apology.

She turned and left without seeing Andy turn white with rage, having to be held back by Annabeth as she made to give the demigoddess a piece of her mind. After a few minutes, the wild rage had left Andy and all that was left was a very tired girl.

Eager to get Andy's mind off her encounter with Annabeth's half-sister, Annabeth suggested, "Why don't you tell me about what you were working on?"

Numbly, Andy nodded, organizing the assortments of papers that had been scattered in and around her bed so they could sit down properly. After they did so, Annabeth noticed that Andy kept a tight grip on the photo album.

A deep breath hissed through Andy's clenched teeth. "It's my brother," she said finally.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked in confusion.

"No, no, my step-brother," Andy corrected herself. "His name is Sirius Black and he's in jail for betraying my sister and brother-in-law to Voldemort."

"Voldemort?" The name rolled strangely off her tongue.

"He's like a… Wizarding Hitler," Andy said, trying to explain the mass-murdering wizard in a way the intelligent demigoddess would understand. "In the Wizarding World there are three types of wizard kind: pure-bloods –who come from a long line of Wizarding blood with no mixing with non-magical sorts-, half-bloods –who either have one pure-blood parent and one non-magical parent, or one pure-blood parent and one muggle-born parent-, and muggle-borns who are witches and wizards born from two muggle –non-magical- parents. Are you following me?"

Annabeth's brain was categorizing everything Andy was saying with no problem –a side effect of being the daughter of the wisdom goddess- so she gave Andy a nod to go on, ripping out a few sheets of paper from Andy's notebook to jot a few notes down and questions to ask for later. Annabeth was starting to find Andy's magical world quite fascinating.

"Now Voldemort had this idea that muggles should be dominated and muggle-borns had no right to be considered wizards because they didn't have a drop of magical blood in their veins." Andy's eyes connected with Annabeth's. "They were all about purging the Wizarding World of those who were non-magical and those who were born of non-magical families."

Bile rose in Annabeth's throat. "That's horrible!"

Andy gave a cruel bark of laughter. "To some, but to others, that logic makes up their whole ideology." Andy sighed. "My step-mother tried to shove it down my throat every time she got a chance to; for some reason it never took."

Annabeth watched as her eyes slid out of focus, as if remembering a time when the woman who kidnapped her had done such a thing, but then her expression cleared.

"Anyways," she continued, "my sister was like that, a muggle-born half-blood, and she married my brother-in-law, a pure-blood, and they had my nephew, a half-blood. Sirius Black was named his godfather before they went into hiding during the war. They should have been safe, but somehow Voldemort found out where they were and killed them." Andy leaned her head into her hands and rubbed the bridge of her nose as if the story was sapping her of energy. "Somehow Harry survived –that's how he got that scar, see?- and Voldemort didn't. Apparently afterwards, Peter Pettigrew –a friend of my brother-in-law's- chased down Sirius and Sirius blew apart the street and Pettigrew."

There was something off in her voice, something that said she clearly didn't believe a word of what she just said. "You don't believe that, do you?" Annabeth guessed.

Andy rolled her eyes in a casual sort of manner. "I mean, come on, only a legacy of Tr-Hecate would be able to perform such a feat without a wand!" Andy complained, flopping back onto the bed. "And I know for a fact that Sirius was a legacy of Aphrodite, so the most likely scenario is that Pettigrew blew apart the street and hid, while letting Sirius take the fall, and that would mean that Sirius is innocent and that Ministry made a huge mistake –which they would never want to admit-," Andy explained in irritation to the blonde demigoddess who was still reeling from how fast Andy was going through the explanation, "so the Ministry would try to push the blame onto him for their incompetency, and even if I claim he is innocent, the Ministry will just claim I'm saying that because I'm family." Andy took a deep breath. She really had been talking quite fast, hadn't she? "I hate politics," she grumbled.

"Is your ministry really like that?" Annabeth asked, aghast.

"Worse, probably," Andy admitted. "Let's just say that money and influence is a great deal to the Ministry of Magic."

Annabeth frowned, her eyes roving over Andy's findings, but the daughter of Poseidon pulled it from her grip with an easy smile.

"Don't worry about it," she said calmer than she felt, "I'll figure something out."

"If you're sure," Annabeth said uncertainly, standing and folding the paper she'd jotted notes onto, and placing it in her pocket.

Andy was touched by her concern. Greeks were far kinder than Romans, she had to admit. "I'll be fine," she said, "really, and I'm sure you have classes to get to."

Annabeth almost yelped when she checked her watch; she was almost late for Sword Practice! Bidding Andy a quick farewell, Annabeth quickly left for her class.

* * *

When Percy left Weapon-making Class, the first thing he did was go by the Poseidon Cabin. Andy had gone before he'd awoken that day, but he still had the faintest memory of a feather-light kiss on his cheek and a whisper of "see you later" in his ear.

Andy was standing over her bed, on which a large pile of various weapons could be seen. Percy wasn't quite sure what all of them were. He saw weapons of gold, silver, steel, and bronze. There were bows made of wood and detailed with gold; there were dozens upon dozens of blades -gladius, spatha, xiphos, makhaira- numerous spears, a few whips, and too many knives to count.

"Andy-"

She jumped, whirling around wildly to find herself with Harpe at Percy's neck. It was hard to tell who was more surprised, but Percy was sure he'd never seen that kind of ferocity in her eyes, like he was the enemy, but then her eyes cleared and she retracted her blade, her cheeks dark with embarrassment.

"Sorry," Andy mumbled as the sword became a smaller version of itself and she clipped it onto her empty charm bracelet. "I don't like it when people take me by surprise."

She nervously rubbed the scars on her arm that commemorated her years of service to Camp Jupiter, the only scars she considered to be 'good scars'.

"Andy," Percy said quietly, "what exactly are you scared of?"

He had expected her to snap at him, or at least injure him, as she usually did when people questioned her resilience, but she didn't, only giving him a look reminiscent of their father the last time he'd seen him; it was impossible to tell what mood she was in. It was times like this that Percy thought his sister was more like Poseidon than he was.

Andy's eyes turned the color of the sea, like their mother's, and a deep sigh shook her small frame. "It goes against my nature to admit weakness to another," she said finally in that formal speech of hers as she collected the bows and arrows and carefully placed them in a large cloth bag, tying it tightly, and setting it aside. Bows were not for children of the sea god, no matter what Apollo or Di-Artemis said. "And he is dead."

Percy frowned, leaning against the doorframe as she hefted the single trident that looked remarkably heavy, tightening her grip so that the prongs sparked with electricity. She smiled, shrinking it and placing it on the bracelet as well.

"Did you kill him?" Percy found himself asking as she slipped a silver knife into a holster on her left boot, and a golden one onto her right. She pulled one off, hiding a steel one in the heel of the boot.

"And what if I did?" she said defiantly, her back still to him, before saying, with her voice small. "What would that make me?"

Percy balked a little at that. Andy sounded so old, so unlike herself. Was she afraid that he would think her a bad person because she killed someone who had tormented her.

While Percy was deep in thought, Andy took the time to attach a few more weapons to her bracelet; a whip, a gladius, a pilum, a spatha, a bag of ambrosia squares, and a canteen of nectar.

A strap of leather in her trunk caught her eye and she forwent her charm bracelet to left the strap of leather that had several beads strung onto it. Chiron had given it to her on her first visit to Camp Half-Blood, claiming that she was an honorary member. Andy hadn't agreed. She had a Greek trireme on fire and a pure white bead with a trident crossing a lightning bolt –a symbol of when Andy became a goddess. Andy gave a small smile as she pulled out a familiar black pirate's coin that Nico had given her when she was nine and attached it to the choker, but even as she did so, Bianca di Angelo's words echoed in her ears:

" _Nico has barely slept in days!" the demigod ranted to Andy who flinched at how Bianca insinuated in was her fault. "I want you to find something that'll make him –make us- forget all about your world!"_

_Andy was stung and insulted. "It is your world as much as it is mine, Bianca!"_

" _We want nothing to do with you demigods anymore!" Bianca snapped. "Death will always follow you, Andy, and we will end up just like Winter if our friendship continues!"_

" _Us demigods?!" Andy seethed, her eyes burning with anger. "Do not think you are not a part of this life, Bianca di Angelo, you have as much godly blood as I do."_

" _You'll only bring him misery!" Bianca raged, ignoring the younger girl's words completely._

" _You're not your mother, Bianca," Andy said coldly, "and you never will be, so stop trying."_

_If Andy had turned back, she would have seen the angry tears spilling down Bianca's cheeks at the insult._

"Andy?"

Percy's voice shocked her out of her reverie and she blinked several times to clear the fog from her mind. "Hm?" she mumbled, half not paying attention as she fumbled with the clasp before finally managing to tie the strap about her neck.

"Andy," he continued, having heard her "hm", "you're not a monster…you've just got…a little problem," he finished lamely. He had no way of knowing his words were almost identical to his brother-in-law's concerning a 'problem' one of his friends had had.

Andy chuckled, but then she surprised him by wrapping her arms around his middle and looking up at him with a bright smile. "You're the sweetest brother, you know that?"

Percy wasn't sure whether to treat that comment as a compliment or an insult, but in the end it didn't matter as he smiled, returning her hug.

* * *

The Underworld –or Hades as it was referred as in Camp Jupiter- had never particularly struck fear into Andy. Maybe that was a side effect of being cursed to love Death, Andy had no idea. Perhaps it reminded her a great deal of her childhood, where death was as common a chocolate muffins for breakfast and corpses as hot chocolate. She had gained permission to venture out of the borders of safety (she pulled a disgusted face; really, was she going to have to _ask_ for everything? _Gods_ , Greeks were such a _bore_!) and had left immediately to speak with Hades.

The skeletons were blocking her way to the throne room. She glared dangerously, but they didn't move.

Andy raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed. "Iron balls," she muttered, saying a phrase she had commonly heard at camp (either one). So, being the impertinent niece that she was, Andy slipped under the spears and into the room without a backwards glance.

Hades wasn't surprised to see her, but she suspected he always knew when she –or anyone for that matter- entered his domain.

"Niece," he said coolly. She had expected as much; the last time they parted had not been on good terms.

"Uncle," she said, kneeling before the lord of the underworld, "I come before you for the sake of your children."

Hades frowned and the barest flicker of emotion crossed his face. It could be said that the death god cared more for his mortal lovers than he did his demigod children, but Andy had no way of knowing if that was truth or not; he showed so little emotion, though, it was hard to disprove.

She stood only after he had –common courtesy; she had no wish to die as she was now mortal-, watching as his form shrunk until he was the appropriate size and no longer a giant.

"Speak," was all he said.

Andy winced slightly. Who would have guessed they were once congenial with how emotionless Hades was towards her. Personally, Andy was still mad at the god for Winter's senseless killing –and she had every right to be- but she would put that aside, for the sake of her friends.

"I wonder if you have any knowledge of any substance that could erase certain memories, my lord," she said, giving a slight incline to the head in respect even as she stood.

"Suppression—" Hades started, but he was suddenly interrupted by his very forward niece.

"I mean to erase, my lord," she said apologetically, "not hide." The look in her eyes was almost sly as she spoke again, "Is it not safer to not know of demigods when they have a scent as strong as mine?"

Andy, of course, had a point. When she was younger, her scent had been very potent, and it had caused quite a few problems at Camp Jupiter (predictably), although, some of the monsters had been summoned by kids intending on proving their worth, Andy was still blamed (also predictably), much to her annoyance.

Hades frowned at her, thinking over her proposal. Try as he might, he could not fault her logic; if his children virtually forgot their demigod knowledge, their scent would become shrouded in Mist once more. Finally, he approached her, his hand glowing slightly and when it had abated, two vials of ice-blue liquid lay delicately in his palm.

She took them without question. "Thank you, Uncle," she said graciously, giving him a grateful bow as well.

An uncomfortable look crossed the god's face as his brother's daughter bowed to him. He had enjoyed when they had been informal to each other –it was quite a break from how gods and demigods tended to view him- but he had shattered her trust when he had tried to use her as leverage against his brother, and as a result, killed her sister.

Andy blinked in surprise as a plain black funeral urn was placed in her hands. It had no other decorations other than a simple white snowflake. It didn't take a genius to guess what was within. She blinked hard, doing her best to stare intently at the jar and not her uncle's face, restraining tears as she throatily said, "Milord is too kind."

"You have my deepest sympathies, Andromeda Jackson-Black," Hades rumbled in that monotonous voice of his. "It was not my intention to…" He left that sentence hanging, not quite sure how to finish it, but he didn't need to.

Andy gave a short chuckle, wiping away her forming tears carelessly with her thumb. "Uncle, when does anything turn out the way we expect it to?"

Of course, she did have a point. And she was the point. Andy was as much of an accident as her brother, but she was unanticipated, unlike Percy, who her father had expected to be born from his union with their mother. Andy the Unexpected.

Hades frowned at the sadness that colored her green orbs, but in an instant it was gone. She smiled slightly, jumping up so she hovered a little off the ground as she pecked a kiss to his cheek, surprising the lord.

* * *

When Nico slowly woke up, it was to soft humming -or was it singing?- in a male voice. It was a recording, he could tell by the slightly fuzzy quality the singer had. He blinked. Andy was leaning back in a folding chair by his bed –that couldn't be comfortable- with her booted feet crossed uncomfortably over his legs as she fiddled with a device in her hand, an iPod or phone, most likely.

The singing abruptly stopped when she noticed he was awake.

"What was that?" he asked curiously.

"Achelous," she said shortly, finally raising her eyes to meet his. Nico tried to interpret the many emotions going haywire in the green depths, but it was impossible to tell what exactly she was thinking when her thoughts were as erratic as her behavior (no doubt because she had been diagnosed with ADHD at an early age). "It's not important."

Nico raised an eyebrow. So she was going with the evasive approach, was she?

She frowned. "What's that look for?"

"What look?" Nico asked innocently, or at least faux-innocently.

Andy picked up on his charade, but she didn't comment, merely narrowing her eyes at her dark-haired friend. "Hm…" was all she said concerning his supposed look.

He grinned. "You're staring at me."

She rolled her eyes at his antics. "You think you're cute, don't you?"

"Do you think I'm cute?"

Andy's lips twitched slightly. "Hm…possibly…" She leaned over to press a soft kiss to his forehead. It was sweaty from his nightmare. "How do you feel?" She squeezed his hand gently.

Winter's face kept flashing before his eyes and he could hardly get any sleep without her yells and words echoing in his ears, keeping him from falling asleep.

"I've been better," he said tiredly, "what about you? You were just pulled out of a river a few hours ago." Andy wanted to correct him and tell him it had been days, but it would be better if she just kept her mouth shut.

Andy gave a small laugh at that, smiling when his fingers squeezed hers back. "Water and I work very well together, _Tesoro_ …I just wanted to see how you were doing, and give you this." She was holding out a flimsy plastic cup that one usually saw medicine in. It was filled with a blue liquid. "To help with your nightmares," she explained when he gave her a look of confusion. "Bianca's already taken hers."

He could see no lie in her eyes because she was telling the truth. She had given the same drought to Bianca, though she had been less kind about it, still harboring a bit of resentment towards the dark-eyed girl for the words she had said to her days previously.

And so he took it, not knowing his memory of their fantastical world would vanish overnight.

"Rest, Nico," Andy said with warning, leaning down a second time, only this time to press a chaste kiss to his lips, ignoring the jolt that ran through her, the feeling that told her it was right, like he was the only thing in the world that made sense.

And that gave her a semblance of peace.


	16. To Be Stronger

It was pitch black when Andy finally made it back to Camp Half-Blood, but thankfully no one noticed, though no one ever seemed to notice a girl dropping inconspicuously out of the sky. She stopped before stepping into the cabin, taking in a deep shaking breath. She was sure that her eyes were still red from crying over the loss of her friends' memories of her, but she didn't care (after all, it was well past midnight, who was going to care about her eyes?). She opened the door as quietly as she possibly could, placing the leather messenger bag that had replaced her black cloth bag at the left of the door. She had hoped not to awaken anyone, but apparently that was futile, as mere seconds after she had entered into the cabin, making for the bunk above Harry's, her nephew's voice rang out: "Aunty?"

She winced slightly, but followed the sound of his voice all the same, dropping back down to the floor lightly, and moving until she sat down on the edge of his bed, her face illuminated by the light of the moon bleeding in through the window, turning her pale hair silver.

"Harry," she chastised gently, careful to keep her voice low so as not to awaken her brother where he slept, "you should be sleeping."

"Wanted to wait for you to come back," Harry said just as quietly, earning him a soft smile.

"Ah, you are too sweet, _Nipotino (_ little nephew) _,"_ she said, ruffling his hair gently, "but you do not need to...unless there is something else?"

Andy really was too sharp where her nephew was concerned. Harry flushed slightly and she raised an eyebrow in turn.

"It's just a bad dream," he admitted, yawning tiredly. "Can you tell me the story of Perseus and Andy?"

 _"_ Just the best Greek love story?" Andy asked lightly, an amused smile flitting across her face. "Not one of heroics or bravery?"

"Perseus is brave," Harry disagreed.

"He is," Andy agreed, pulling up his blankets to his chest -even though it was summer, he still got chills. "Alright, then… Once upon a time, a long time ago in Ancient Greece, there lived a king named Acrisius who had a beautiful daughter named Danae. They were quite happy, father and daughter, until Apollo's Oracle of Delphi appeared before Acrisius."

"What did she say?" asked Harry, having never heard the complete story before, only segments.

"She told the king that Danae's son would kill him one day," Andy told him ominously, unaware that her brother had awoken and was now listening to the story as well. "So the king did the only logical thing he could: he locked his own daughter in a tower."

"That's so mean!"

Andy smiled. "He may have seen it as a way of ensuring his survival, but I do not pretend to understand the hearts of men. The tower was bronze with no doors and only a single window. Being locked in a tower made the princess very sad -as you could guess- and one day a shower of golden rain came through the window and within it a man appeared. He bore with him a sort of awing strength that no human could possess and held a lightning bolt aloft in his hand. She had no doubt that he was a god."

"It was Jupiter," Harry guessed.

"Eh, Zeus, but same difference." Andy dismissed with a wave of her hand. "For many days the lord if the sky visited her, making her prison a flowering sanctuary that would not be unfounded in the Fields of Elysium. I'm sure you can guess what happened eventually..."

Harry's cheeks turned dark at the mention of that particular aspect of myths; the one involving how the children came into play.

"Once Perseus was born, Danae had to try very hard so that her son's cries would not attract the attention of her father, but unfortunately, that was in vain," Andy informed him with a slight wince. "In a fury, the king locked his daughter and grandson into a chest and set it out to sea."

"He's not a nice man," Harry muttered under his breath.

Andy shrugged. "This is what happens when you try to influence prophecies," she explained sagely. "Anyways, Perseus and Danae were discovered by a fisherman in Seriphos, and this is where Perseus grew up. After many years, the king, Polydectes, decided he wanted Danae as a wife, but knew he had to get Perseus out of the way, so he staged a marriage between himself and a daughter of a friend of his. As tradition was, everyone on the island was to bring a present, but Perseus showed up with nothing, having no money. Desperate to prove himself, he told the king he would bring him anything he desired, and so, Polydectes demanded the head of a gorgon."

"Don't they turn you to stone, though?" Harry asked, remembering the gorgons from a book his aunt had made him read about mythical monsters.

"They do," Andy agreed. "I think it's more of the principle of the matter…so somehow he got a hold of Athena's Cap of Invisibility and used a mirror and his sword to cut off Medusa's head."

"Like Uncle Percy?" Harry asked.

Andy chuckled lightly. "Your uncle's been carrying tales, I see, but yes, just like that. And so he set sail with his spoil of war, until he came across a young woman chained to a rock out at sea. Her name was Andy, and she was the princess of Aethiopia."

"What was she doing tied to a rock?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Well, we can blame her mother, Cassiopeia, for that," Andy said dryly. "In her arrogance, the queen boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids. Poseidon, of course, became angry at the insult and sent a sea monster by the name of Cetus to ravage the land. The king was growing desperate, so he consulted the Oracle of Delphi who told him the attacks would cease if he sacrificed his only daughter to Poseidon. And so she was chained to a rock out on the coast, and all this she told Perseus who took it upon himself to slay the beast and return Andy to safety. They fell in love and got married, the end," Andy said bluntly, making her nephew pout.

"Why'd you make the end so short?" he complained.

"Because I'm tired and it's well past your bedtime, kiddo," Andy said with a roll of her eyes, climbing the ladder to her bunk. "Goodnight."

"'Night."

She watched as Harry settled back into his cushions in a deep slumber before standing from her bed, murmuring, "Go to sleep, Percy."

A green eye opened to watch her disappear out of the cabin once more, her form turning to water and vanishing in the darkness.

When Artemis caught sight of her, a wide grin split her face and she moved forward to grip arms with the ex-goddess.

"Congratulations, Cousin," she said to the daughter of Neptune. "I find that mortality suits you better than immortality."

"So it seems," Andy agreed with a sheepish smile on her face, "and it also seems that we can no longer be sisters-in-arms."

"We will always be sisters," Artemis refuted easily. "Even though you have refused to become one of my hunters more times than I can count."

The sheepish expression spread from her lips to encompass her entire face. "It's not anything personal," Andy promised, walking beside the Goddess of the Hunt, Harpe unsheathed at her side, "it's just that I don't think I belong with the Hunt. I enjoy it, really, I do, but…" Her eyes clouded over for a moment and she smiled, "for once, I want to be in control of my life, and there are so many things I want to do that I can't as a Hunter."

Artemis' smile was understanding, but Andy knew that there were some things about her life that the goddess would and could never understand.

"Thank you, though," she added, "for the opportunity to run and hunt with you, Cousin, it has been a privilege like no other."

"For us both," Artemis agreed. "But you cannot get rid of me so easily, Andy. I suspect that our paths will cross again quite soon."

"As you wish," Andy said respectfully, before giving her a wink, "though I would leave the prophesying to Apollo."

The fist to her arm was going to leave a bruise, that much Andy was certain of.

"Now, let's hunt!" And the two girls raced off into the night, following their prey with ease.

* * *

Andy did not rise until much later the next day, though her friends implored Chiron to give her leeway because something had to have happened to cause her to not wake up at a reasonable hour. Fortunately, the centaur was lenient, but only just.

Percy walked past Carmella and Harry on his way to the forest for Capture the Flag. Carmella's violet eyes were filled with concern for her friend. "Harry, how did Andy seem when she came back last night?"

Harry screwed up his face as he tried to recall the previous night. "Her eyes were red," he remembered, "she looked like she'd been crying…that Italian demigod that she's friends with, do you think they had a fight?"

Carmella bit her lip in worry. "I don't know, kiddo."

"Is she the real Andromeda?"

The blunt question had even Percy staring at his nephew. Carmella shared a glance with him, but Percy couldn't quite make out what was in those indigo depths. "Now, Harry, what would make you think that?" Carmella asked cautiously.

Harry shrugged his thin shoulders. "Just a feeling…she's died before, hasn't she?"

Percy sucked in a breath at that comment and Carmella bit her lip.

"Yes," she admitted, "she tried for rebirth some time ago, however," she added, "I have no idea if she is _the_ Andromeda, only that sometimes, she gets flashes of her memories from before." Carmella was quite familiar with those flashes, because she'd seen them more times than she could count, growing up with Andy.

She forced a smile onto her face as she winked at the legacy. "Don't worry too much about Andy, Harry, you know how much she hates people worrying about her, besides, she wouldn't miss Capture the Flag, she'll wake up soon, you'll see."

Harry wrinkled his nose, but he didn't say anything as she raced off in the direction of her cabin. They were having trouble with their armor it seemed, judging by the exasperated look on the violet-eyed girl's face.

"Aunty'll be fine," Harry said to Percy, but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. "She's the strongest demigod ever, she'll be fine." Percy half-wondered if he wasn't just being biased, but then he'd seen her freeze a camper solid when they made fun of her hair, and even their father had admitted her power was…impressive.

" _I must take the blame for that, I suppose. The sea does not like to be restrained," Poseidon admitted, raising a hand so that the water particles in the air collected over his palm, forming a fuzzy image. It took Percy a moment to recognize Andy slumbering. "Your sister, in particular, is too much like me, more so than you." Poseidon looked pained as he gazed over to his only living daughter. "I do not blame Andy for resenting me. Her entire life has been a death sentence; loving Death is no easy task." A slow stream of air whistled as it escaped his lips. "Andy has always been alienated for being who she us, she has not had an easy life."_

" _Because she was kidnapped?" Percy couldn't stop his voice from rising. "Or was it something else?"_

_At first, Percy thought his father was going to snap and yell at him (his eyes mirrored Andy's when she got mad), but then his shoulders sagged as if the comment was literally weighing him down._

" _I admit," his father began, "that I did not pay her much attention as a female of my line. I have tried to make amends, but my daughter so too willful, too…uncontrollable. She has proven herself to be relentless and tactical and dangerous, it's a combination that Zeus both admires and despises. She's the sort of person who will do anything to protect those that she holds most dear, it is her most fatal trait."_

* * *

Andy, contrary to popular belief, was not asleep in her bed. No, that was an ice golem that she'd made herself, though she was sure she'd pay for it later when it melted. She was pretty sure that she could evaporate it later…probably…

Currently, Andy was leaning with her back against a fork of branches, an irritated look splashed across her face.

"I will never understand Greeks," Andy decided, throwing up her hands in exasperation as she tossed an annoyed glance to her ghostly companion. She didn't notice –or perhaps she didn't care- how the branches sustaining her trembled under her movements.

Thalia Grace's form flickered with every soft gust of wind, her transparent blue feet dangled in the open air as she let her cousin vent. It was nice, she had to admit, to be able to talk to someone after being alone (which was to say: dead) for so long.

"I can see why the Legion always bests them," she mumbled under her breath, though once she said that, she felt a bit sick. Greeks and Romans were always on opposite sides, she wondered how the Greeks would react if they discovered Romans in their midst? It would by the Battle of Heraclea (the first time Greeks and Romans ever met in battle) all over again. Perhaps there would come a day when Andy would be expected to fight against her brother, and it was that that worried her.

She bit her lip.

 _*Andy?*_ Thalia questioned. _*Is something wrong?*_

Andy waved off her concerns with a careless hand. "I'm fine," she said, cupping her chin in her hand, deep in thought. "I should probably head back, though. See you soon!"

Thalia blushed bluer when Andy leaned over to press her lips to her invisible cheek, making a suitable effort to not go through her as she leapt out of the tree, landing lightly on her feet as she raced off into the distance.

Unfortunately for her, the game had already begun, but it didn't take her long to find her group.

"They're going to be anticipating a move like Annabeth's hat," Callie noted as they ducked behind some foliage, peering over to where the Ares guards were on edge, "unless-" she glanced up suddenly and grinned. "Excellent."

"What d'you-" Then Annabeth saw her. A lone figure was perching up in the high branches of a tree that was almost directly over the flag. Andy was looking distinctly war-like, something that didn't really surprise Percy. She'd pinned back her blue-striped hair, tucked under her helmet, unlike the Half-Blood armor, though, she wore a chainmail shirt under a leather tunic. Her fingers gripped the branch beneath her feet, pointing one hand into the distance where Annabeth could hear loud lightning crackling and could see it sparking around her. Andy caught her eye and winked, raising a finger to her mouth it imitate silence.

The two Ares guards' attention had momentarily turned in the direction of where the lightning had come from, they didn't even notice Andy float down to their level, hovering in the air like a marionette, pulling the flag swiftly from the ground and shooting up into the air like a rocket. The Ares kids twisted upwards at the noise of her running into branches, but they only caught a glimpse of her armor before she disappeared, and it was only then that they noticed the ice entrapping their feet and slowly spreading up their bodies.

"Oh, she's _good_ ," Annabeth murmured with a grin.

* * *

The problem was that Andy was a _fucking_ powerhouse. Any attempts to best her were firmly put into the ground, so much so, that many were firmly against fighting against her in general. She didn't seem to mind too much, but there was something in her eyes that unsettled Annabeth. She was too war-like, too...Roman, if you will. Annabeth knew it was best not to voice these concerns because, as they were surrounded on all sides by Greeks, that would be the same as a death sentence. Honestly, she was worried about the girl, no one in their right mind would be able to carry an honest conversation with Dionysus about the composition of wine (Annabeth wondered why she even bothered, but the wine god didn't seem to mind at all). If anything, it seemed that the god owed her something, but she never mentioned it. In fact, Annabeth hardly spoke with her, Callie, Marlene, and Carmella almost completely occupied her time. When she wasn't with them or her brother and nephew she was on that phone of hers, speaking rapidly in Italian to a demigod that Callie swore up and down she was going to marry in a couple years. When Andy had heard that, she'd beaten the daughter of the wisdom goddess into the ground during the next combat lesson they'd had, her face a furious shade of red.

Today, the last day of the summer session, she was trying to show her brother how to create ice and stand on water and Annabeth had tagged along to poke fun (seeing as Grover had already left on his quest). Andy balanced easily on the sifting waves as if it was solid beneath her.

"You can't think about the water as something that moves," she told her brother, going into lecture-mode, "if you do, you'll just fall through. You have to think of water as a solid entity…see?"

She demonstrated by first putting her foot down and allowing it to sink through before bringing it out of the water again only to have it rest firmly on top of the water.

"You're turn."

Percy, unfortunately, fell right through, much to the amusement of those around them. Andy had to bite her finger to stop the giggles from completely coming through.

"Don't worry," she said with a laugh leaking through, "I was pretty bad when I started out, and I had Lady Chione to instruct me."

"The snow goddess?" Annabeth asked in surprise.

Andy nodded absently. "Yup, she could be a real cold-hearted bit-"

"Ahem!"

Andy smiled sheepishly at Annabeth. "What? Have you met her? Trust me, she's a real piece of work." Andy leaned over to tie her ice skates to her feet before dropping onto the ice that was spreading out from her feet around her. Following the ice, Andy sped across the ice, her face alight with happiness as she swayed and twirled. Percy was impressed to how fluid her movements were, but at the same time, that was the way she often moved, as if her body and mind were in harmony.

"Hey, Andy!" a voice called from beside them as Marlene stepped foot on the dock yelling out to her friend. "You're going to miss dinner, you idiot!"

The daughter of Poseidon was at the dock in seconds and Marlene was off it just as fast, courtesy of a wave shaped exactly like a hand. As they walked up to dinner, Percy and Annabeth were amused by a soaking daughter of war chasing after a flying daughter of the sea. As paradoxes went, that was pretty good.

The bead was pitch black with two crossed tridents at the center, a prefect representation of Andy and Percy.

"The choice was unanimous," Luke called out over the loud crowd. "This bead commemorates the first Children of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest one undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!"

The applause was deafening, but Andy couldn't really take a part in it as she tied the bead to the leather strap of her necklace, her gaze shifting instead out towards the center of the camp. Her barely audible gasp wasn't heard, but the clatter of the bench collapsing behind her as she stood was, though no one noticed as she disappeared from the dining pavilion, the urn expanding to full size in her arms.

Chione rarely showed herself in public, so it was a shock that she would appear in the Greek camp. Her unnaturally pale skin stood out against the darkness, contrasting with the lush black and brown that was her hair and eyes.

"Milady," Andy said gently, kneeling before her on the grass that had already began to frost. If she had looked up, she would have seen the tear tracks on the goddess' cheeks that had become slick ice since she had learned of her daughter's demise. "My humblest apologies."

Chione did not speak, her cold fingers gently prying Andy's from the urn that beheld Winter's ashes.

"My daughter," she said throatily, "did what she believed to be right, Andy Jackson-Black, and even I can find no fault in her beliefs."

"Thank you, Lady Chione," Andy said, and she meant it, every word of it as the goddess and the urn vanished into the wind.

* * *

Andy was having a good mood until she came face to face with Luke Castellan. She had a carefree smile on her face, nodding vaguely as Harry gushed about the underwater creatures he'd seen during their swim.

"The clown fish called me 'Lord'! Are they always like that?"

Andy released a light laugh, squeezing his hand in hers. "As long as I've known them, but all the sea creatures are like that; obviously, they call me 'Lady'."

"That's so cool!" Harry cried, his steps becoming more jumpy in his exuberance.

"It'll wear off after awhile," Andy disagreed with a slight smile, the smile fading suddenly as she felt ice clenching around her heart. She had a very bad feeling, but she couldn't be sure what it was. "Harry," she said, her voice tight, "do you know where Percy is?"

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but Andy was already gone, and Aeton –appearing out of the shadows like always- was hot at her heels, overtaking her, leading her through the forest to the creek near where she had been kidnapped by hellhounds. And it was then that she ran into the son of Hermes. The one responsible for Calliope Evans death.

And that was what caused Harpe to glow on her bracelet, the sword leaping to her hand to clash against his blade.

Her glare was close to demonic. "What have you done to him?!"

"Why don't you go find out?"

The smug question had her lash out so fast that he didn't even see it coming until he felt the wetness creeping down his cheek as she raced towards the direction of her brother.

"PERCY!"

Her brother was stumbling with difficulty back in the direction of camp, and Andy reached him before the nymphs, gripping his waist and shooting upwards like a rocket and towards the infirmary, pulling a heavy conch shell to her lips –something Harry had discovered during their search- and blowing so hard that the earth shook as she almost crashed into the hospital ward.

Percy could barely make out his sister's voice as she spoke, slicing open his palm as she did so in an effort to pull some of the poison from his body, but it only slowed it down. She must have sworn, but he couldn't really understand it.

"Percy? Don't you dare pass out on me!" Andy had helped the Apollo kids move her barely breathing brother to a cot, using their healing gifts to force the poison from his system, but it was slow work and wasn't progressing as fast as they might like.

Andy swore again, fumbling with her bag to pull out a sea crystal she'd been saving, but had no choice but to use. " _Amotio_ ," she whispered as the crystal glowed in her palms before placing it to the entry area of the poison. For a moment nothing happened, and then Percy's cheeks gained a bit of color as a dark green liquid filled the crystal from where it had circulated throughout Percy's body. After a few more seconds, the crystal shattered in her hands.

Now all she could do was wait, and she did, hours upon hours. She wasn't entirely alone, either, because she was often joined in her silent vigil by Annabeth or Harry, generally not at the same time. Andy lifted her head at the sound of a rather noticeable crack, blinking blearily to see the plate of breakfast food that was being held out to her by her faithful house-elf. She smiled faintly, but took it all the same after her stomach made a rather obvious grumble.

"Mistress should not go hungry," the old house-elf rumbled.

"Thanks, Kreacher," she said softly, stabbing the fork into a bit of eggs and chewing on it and swallowing, tasting the hint of potion a bit too late as she keeled forward from the effects of the Sleeping Draught.

* * *

It wasn't Andy's fault, really, when she appeared out of nowhere, the front of the car lodging in the lower part of her stomach before it came to a sudden stop, sending her flying.

"Oh my gods!" Andy could hear the familiar voice of a blonde daughter of Athena. "Andy! Andy, are you alright?"

The ex-goddess groaned –loudly-, rolling onto her side clutching the part of her body that now throbbed painfully. "Oooh! My groin!"

Somehow, Annabeth doubted Andy even knew where the groin was. "I'm so sorry!" she apologized feverishly as her father and step-mother got out of the car. "Can you sit up?"

"Gah!" The girl complained as she pushed herself off the ground, stumbling into a standing position, still clutching her stomach. She glared mutinously at Annabeth. "This is payback for kicking your ass in the arena a few days ago, isn't it?"

Annabeth's laugh was a bit on the shaky side. "Oh, no, Andy, you won fair and square."

"How very Greek of you," Andy growled before bending over suddenly at her waist. "Oooh, my organs!"

"Annabeth," it was the man that had spoken, and Andy turned immediately towards him, "who's this?"

She could see much of Annabeth in her father, just as she could see much of herself in her own.

"Andy Jackson-Black," she introduced herself, shaking his hand. "Daughter of Ne-Poseidon."

"Are you really?"

Andy took a single step back as the man peered at her intensely with an impressed smile.

"Er…yeah," Andy said cautiously, glancing over to Annabeth. "Your dad, I'm guessing."

The girl nodded in agreement as her step-mother called over to the white-haired girl: "Dear, are you sure you're alright? We can drive you back to camp."

Andy's eyes screwed up, but she just smiled. "Don't worry, I don't need a ride, the wind's all I need."

Annabeth was fairly certain her father wasn't the only one staring at the preteen girl who was now hovering a foot off the ground.

"Is Percy awake?" she asked the grey-eyed girl.

"Oh! Yeah, he was for a bit when I left," Annabeth admitted, "but he looked like crap."

"That is to be expected," Andy mused, "being poisoned and all, but I guess this is goodbye, for now," she added, motioning to Annabeth.

"For now," Annabeth repeated, before looking a little nervous, "Andy, have you looked at all at Winter's laptop?"

Her green eyes lightened a little, startled by the question. "No, she had a massive lock on it that I couldn't break through…why?"

"She had some information that she was collecting for you," Annabeth said slowly, "about…Project Omega?"

The effect was instantaneous. All the color fell from her face at the mention of 'Omega' and her eyes looked as though they were hollow. "I…see…so did you read it?"

Her voice sounded false, as if she was restraining her temper, but Annabeth couldn't back down.

"Only, only a little," she promised, "and if you ever want to talk about it-"

"I don't talk about it, not ever," Andy said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Please, don't."

Annabeth conceded at the amount of warning that her tone be-held before quickly changing the subject. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

"Carmella and I have been accepted to our second year at the Manhattan Academy of Magic," Andy explained, her eyes grateful, "but we'll probably be around, you know." She laughed lightly, only sounding half-fake. "We're not really good about staying still."

"Just…don't be a stranger, alright?"

The smile Andy gave her was still a bit on the sarcastic side, but it was completely genuine.

"I'll do my best…see ya around, Chase."

In that instant, Annabeth could have sworn in her place she saw Thalia Grace smirking at her, but the next second she was gone and so was Andy. But this time, Annabeth didn't worry, because this time, she knew that Andy didn't need it, she was perfectly capable of functioning on her own. Andy was completely the vision of a demigod, through and through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Daughter of Rome is officially complete! YAY! You lot don't know how much I've been looking forward to this! This means you all can go on to Sting of the Blade, as soon as I post it, that is.


End file.
